Honorees

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Year Honored
2012
Honoree
Randall Joe 'Randy' Bever
Title
Flight Nurse
Agency
LifeNet-St. Joseph
Agency City
St. Joseph
Agency State
MO
Last Call
8/26/11
Cause of Death
Medical Aviation Accident
Biography
A co-worker said, "Just one of his crooked smiles would give his co-workers the confidence to perform in the most stressful situations." Just having Randy present seemed to bring calm from chaos. Randy started his career in medicine while in high school, working as a nurse's aide and in 1981 as a combat medic with the Missouri National Guard. After leaving the Guard in 1987, he worked in many ambulance services as a paramedic and earned an associate's degree in nursing. As a nurse he took on many roles including educator and preceptor in the emergency department. In 1998, Randy started with LifeNet Air Medical Services where he served as a chief flight nurse and base supervisor. Education and the advancement of care was one of Randy's passions. He taught classes for the American Heart Association and the Emergency Nurses Association. He frequently mentored paramedic and nursing students and other health professionals. Randy had a strong work ethic and was employed by many services at the same time. It was not uncommon to see him in the back of an ambulance, or stepping out of a helicopter with a patient, or in the emergency department. Randy not only loved his friends and career and all of the aspects of it, he had a strong love for his family as well. In June 2006, he married his loving wife, Shanna. The two shared a family of seven children, and just prior to his death a young man he lovingly named "Boo Boo" came into his life. On the evening of August 26, 2011 the Eurocopter AS-360 carrying Randy, age 47, along with fellow crew-members, Chris Fakes and James Freudenburg, and the patient they were caring for crashed in a field. There were no survivors.<br /> <br /> Honored 2012