Fulton native honored for EMS volunteer work

December 24, 2008 10:00 am

— ELDRIDGE — Dan Collins of Eldridge was recently recognized for his volunteer spirit and community service, receiving the 2008 Iowa Emergency Medical Services Association’s Individual Volunteer of the Year Award at a special awards ceremony in Des Moines.
By day he is the activities director for the residents at Grand Haven Retirement Community in Eldridge. At night, he’s the manager of Lancer’s Grille and Happy Joe’s. In his off time he is an EMT-Basic for MEDIC EMS in Eldridge. Those are the jobs he gets paid to do. In his spare time, Collins is a firefighter with the Eldridge Volunteer Fire Department. Before joining EMS, he served as a firefighter and EMT for the Long Grove Volunteer Fire Department.
Collins joined both MEDIC and the fire department in 2000. As a frequent visitor to the onsite annual EMT-Basic classes in rural Scott County, he enjoys mentoring and encouraging new students. He also won an award for logging the most volunteer hours for the MEDIC EMS county operation since 2003, giving more than 2,000 hours each year.
Collins is a native of Fulton, Ill. and lived in Eldridge while attending Kaplan University in Dubuque.
He and his wife, Lisa, and their two children, ages 5 and 10, currently live in Eldridge.