Source: UWG News, University of West Georgia
By: Gary Leftwich
Citing his long history of providing medical transport resources in the west Georgia region and his legacy of service to the community and the university, the University of West Georgia conferred upon Steve Adams an honorary doctorate degree during its spring commencement Thursday.
Adams, who serves as president and CEO of Southeastrans, joked about receiving a degree later in life.
“It took me 40 years to get a degree, but better late than never,” he said. “I’ve been a part of the community a long time, and I have enjoyed supporting the college. This is a great honor, and I thank the University of West Georgia for it.”
Adams has been directly involved in the medical transportation industry for more than 40 years. His started in 1974 as an emergency medical technician with the local ambulance service in his hometown of Carrollton, Ga. Just two years later, Adams purchased the company and formed West Georgia Ambulance Service, Inc.
West Georgia Ambulance expanded over the next 20 years, creating one of the Southeast’s largest minority-owned ambulance services. In 1996, Adams sold West Georgia Ambulance Service to American Medical Response, Inc. (AMR) and became a regional chief operating officer and director of affairs for the company.
In that role, Adams helped AMR become a dominant player in the Georgia ambulance industry. In 1999, he reacquired the Carroll County ambulance operations from AMR and re-established West Georgia Ambulance, Inc., which serves as the county’s designated emergency medical service.
In 1989, Adams founded Adams Transport, Inc., a transportation company providing non-emergency medical transportation and other contracted transportation services. Adams Transport provided transportation services under contract with the Georgia Department of Human Resources and coordinated transportation logistics for several high-profile events, including the Annual BellSouth Golf Classic in Atlanta, Bruno’s BellSouth Golf Classic in Nashville and the World Football League.
In 2000, Adams founded Southeastrans, Inc. as a transportation management company specializing in broker management of Medicaid non-emergency transportation (NET) services. Southeastrans was awarded a contract by the Georgia Department of Community Health in 2000 to manage the Atlanta Medicaid NET Region.
The company was extremely successful in improving the quality and reliability of transportation services within the Atlanta area and quickly became recognized as a leader in the human service transportation industry. Southeastrans currently provides transportation management services for more than two million Medicaid enrollees in Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana and the District of Columbia, coordinating over 3.6 million trips annually.
Adams has been actively involved in local and state civic and healthcare organizations through his service on many boards, including the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice Board, the Emergency Medical Health Services Advisory Board, the Tanner Medical Center Authority Board, the Carroll County Health Department Board, the Carrollton Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Board, and the University of West Georgia Board of Trustees, among others. He was a co-founder and former board member of the Carroll County Children’s Home and served as chairman of the State University of West Georgia’s A Day event, raising more than $750,000 for the university.
Adams has a long history of community service and remains politically active in health care and medical transportation issues across the state. He currently serves on the Georgia World Congress Center Authority Board of Governors and on the Tanner Health System Board of Directors.
Posted on May 11, 2017