Ryland makes local and state-wide impact

Larry Ryland has made a significant impact over the course of his lifetime at both the local and state-wide levels through his involvement with the creation of the Public Education Employees’ Health Insurance Plan (PEEHIP) and the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) program at Lurleen B. Wallace Community College and EMS’ presence in his community and surrounding areas.

Ryland’s involvement in the creation of PEEHIP began in November of 1982 at the Alabama Community and Junior College Association’s Annual Convention in Birmingham, a business meeting seeking to better the association. At the time schools, colleges, and institutions were independently negotiating their annual contracts for health insurance and most systems were struggling to pay the cost of insurance for their personnel. Ryland was the individual to motion to create a statewide health insurance plan that combined all institutions for economies of scale.

“This ensured that each school system would have much lower insurance premiums, and PEEHIP would have greater bargaining power with the insurance companies,” Ryland explained. His motion was passed and presented to Dr. Paul Hubbard, the Executive Director at Alabama Education Association (AEA). Once Hubbard and his staff had created the plan for PEEHIP, the team visited Dr. David Bonner, CEO of the Retirement System of

Alabama, to borrow $250,000 to commence operations until employee payments could be collected.

“In the fall of 1983, the official beginning of PEEHIP began in Alabama and as of the fall 2024 we celebrated 41 years of operation,” Ryland stated. “PEEHIP is a true Alabama success story. Dr. Bonner called it the gold standard of insurance programs in the nation!”

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Bonner has continued to praise Ryland for his idea to unite education systems across the state with PEEHIP. “All active employees and their dependents, retirees, etc. are precipitants in PEEHIP. This has truly been a major success story in Alabama for the past 41 years,” Ryland said. “It has served millions of members and their family members. PEEHIP, a true success, serves as a model for other states to adopt.”

Not only did Ryland have a profound state-wide impact, but he also played a large role in the advancement of local EMS services as well as the development of an Emergency Medical Technician training program at LBW. Ryland’s journey with Emergency Services came in the wake of “several severe weather situations in 1974, including Hurricane Carmen and a ‘super outbreak’ of tornados up to F5 strength which ravaged the central part of the state.” He joined the Andalusia Rescue Squad to help manage the fallout from these weather anomalies. In 1974, Alabama’s EMS was still in development, and Ryland would go on to attend EMT Intermediate and Paramedic programs independently to better serve his community.

Then President of LBW asked Ryland to start the school’s EMS program. Ryland’s state application was approved quickly and the program started off with a bang. Students responded very positively to the program, and demand for an Intermediate EMT training class grew rapidly as well. Ryland anticipated Paramedic training as the next step in the progression of the program would be a desire for Paramedic training. Due to a need for instructors, Ryland requested State EMS offer an onsite 40-hour EMS Instructor class, but his request was met with hesitation. “Due to the rural nature of Andalusia, it was not believed enough students would be interested in an EMS Instructor class,” but students proved their doubt wrong. “Within two weeks enrollment had to be terminated due to too many students enrolling in the class, which maxed at 30 students.”

LBW’s Paramedic program began quickly thereafter, with an unusually prompt approval from Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE). The Department of Post Secondary’s Dr. Bert Slafter contacted Larry to tell him that no other college had ever submitted a similar application approaching 200 pages, and Larry’s application had consisted of 700 pages. The ACHE met the next month, and the program was approved in the historic time of three months while most programs take up to two years. The program subsequently got approval from the National Registry of EMTs and achieved a 100 percent pass rate for Paramedics in 1997, which was personally recognized by the Chancellor of Alabama Postsecondary Education.

Ryland’s influence in EMS remains longstanding. He was integral in the institution of required hepatitis B vaccinations for health-related and postsecondary health programs in Alabama. Lurleen B. Wallace Community College’s EMS program continues successfully to this day. He was the first appointed chairman of both Covington and Conecuh E-911 boards and wrote the E-911 Standard Operating Procedures and manuals for both counties. In addition, he secured the 100-foot free standing radio tower that was installed in Andalusia for only $4,000, an immense savings for the county government. He also secured the materials for the E-911 building in Conecuh County through a donation from USA Concrete (Paul Bryant, Jr.) and funds had already been saved to pay for the contractor that erected the building. The building is now valued at half a million dollars and is rated to withstand 200 mile per hour winds.

Ryland’s impact both locally and across Alabama has left him with a longstanding legacy of service and betterment of the programs he is involved with. Many lives have been touched by his work in the education and emergency services sectors, and his dedication to protecting the people of Alabama and Covington County will not be forgotten.

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Covington County

Andalusia

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