Lewis Kerns, Assistant Chief for Emergency Medical Services for Gloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad, recently received the Award for Outstanding EMS Leadership from the Peninsulas Emergency Medical Services Council, headquartered in Gloucester.

He will now be the PEMS nominee for the Governor’s Award in the same category, to be announced in November.

According to a press release, the theme for this year’s awards was “Catch Excellence in Action,” and there were seven nominations from jurisdictions, agencies, hospitals and others across the PEMS region for the outstanding leadership award. There were 43 nominations in all categories combined. Winners were announced during the annual EMS Day on May 20 at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg.

Kevin Brophy, business manager of the PEMS Council, presented the award to Kerns during the squad’s monthly meeting in Gloucester. In comments to the membership, he cited Kerns for continuing to engage the volunteer EMS providers in his depa...