Wallace D. Mays, M.D.

Dr. Wallace Mays described as health care hero by Georgia Trend magazine

Raven Payne

AMERICUS — A hero is usually defined as a person distinguished by exceptional courage, nobility and strength: aiming to make a difference in the lives of the people they encounter everyday.

During the March 1 tornado, there were several heroes to appear — putting their lives at risk to help save another.

In Georgia Trend’s October edition, Dr. Wallace Mays, gynecologist, along with four other healthcare professionals, were recognized for “serving their patients on a daily basis and, on occasion, by going above and beyond the call of duty.”

“Do I think I am a hero? No. It was just a matter of time and place. My house is not far from the hospital (Sumter Regional Hospital) so it wasn’t that hard for me to get there to make a small difference,” said Mays.

Mays entered the medical field late in life, since 1980. He began his professional career as an instructor for the U.S. Army, teaching pilots how to fly during the Vietnam era stationed at Fort Stewart, Ala.

“After the war ran down, I had to do something else. I went back to college, went to school part-time and at night while working. I had one more year with the GI Bill and I chose to use it for medical school,” said Mays describing that it was a choice that has brought fulfillment to his life.

During his time in the military, Mays stated that he was trained to be prepared for times of direst — learning several exercises to be prepared for the unexpected.

And the night of March 1 was definitely an unexpected night.

“I was off-call and at home when the winds were picking up outside. I remember going to the second floor of the house to see which direction the wind was going, and my wife called out to me that I was needed at the hospital,” he said.

On that night, it was pitch dark. Power lines were down and trees were scattered everywhere. So, Mays had to walk the three blocks from his house to Sumter Regional.

“I couldn’t drive because trees were down everywhere, left to right, on top of each other and about every 15 feet there was a pile up,” said Mays, recalling being guided by the beam of a flashlight to get to the hospital.

When he arrived to the hospital, he couldn’t believe what was before his eyes, the hospital was devastated.

“It was difficult to get up on the grounds of the hospital. I wasn’t dealing with just downed power lines and trees anymore, but also debris from the building, surrounding buildings and tons of cars piled on top of each other,” he said.

Mays finally made it to the backdoor of the hospital and was able to get to the obstetrics unit (OB) by climbing the different floors; power was out so the elevators were not operating. By the time Mays reached the OB floor, the nurses had evacuated the patients to the cafeteria.

“We soon began to organize from that point on. Everyone was so helpful. Whatever needed to be done, it was done,” said Mays, adding that it was similar to the way the military handled complicated situations.

According to Mays, plans were already being developed for the evacuation of the patients out of the hospital before he arrived. The easiest way to clear the hospital was through the emergency room but trees were blocking the entrance.

“Before we finally got the patients out of the hospital, we had to keep moving them around to safer locations up to about three times. And finally out of nowhere, it seemed, we had chainsaws and strangers came to help to remove the trees blocking the entrance,” he said.

Mays doesn’t take all the credit for the success of getting the patients to safety.

“If I am a hero, then there are many others who need to be recognized — staff, nurses, doctors and volunteers. These folks worked hard and proved to be outstanding — they took it upon themselves to protect the patients and doing that with no injuries or deaths at the site. Those are your heroes,” he said.

“I have the training but those who are not trained and are able to keep their cool during such a time are really the heroic type, and they were there at the hospital after the tornado,” the physician said.