City Beat: Life Force paramedic working on 'Nashville'

photo A Life Force helicopter lands at Erlanger Hospital.

Stacy Prater isn't ready to quit his day job just yet, but for now he does enjoy being on a film set.

Normally when we think of a movie set, we think first of the actors and then the director. We know there are camera and lighting crews, but unless you've been on one, you don't realize that some of the larger productions can resemble a small traveling city, with construction crews who build sets and seamstresses who make or alter the clothing.

And these people all have to eat, so there is a catering crew. As you might imagine, these folks sometimes fall ill or have an accident that requires medical attention. So there are also medical personnel on the set.

By day, Prater is a flight paramedic on Life Force, Erlanger's medical transport helicopter. On occasion, however, Prater is asked to use his paramedic skills on the set of ABC's "Nashville," the hit television show filmed up the road.

"I fill in for people on vacation or when they need a day off," he says.

Usually the job involves simply being on set and tending to cast and crew.

"It could be handing out Band-Aids and dealing with a lacerations," he says. "It's a working set, so there are cameramen, set builders, lighting people and the stars, and accidents do happen."

Late last summer, however, he was on set for a scene involving Hayden Panettiere's character, Juliette Barnes, and he was asked to go from off camera to on camera. When Barnes collapses onstage, paramedics place her on a gurney and wheel her off. Prater was one of those paramedics.

"It was different being on that side of the camera," he says.

Mostly what he learned was what just about everyone on a set learns: It's a lot of hurry up and wait.

"They take a long time to set everything up, but when they are ready to go, they are ready. Then they move everything around for the next scene."

Last week, before the show aired, Prater said he wasn't sure if his scene would make it or end up on the cutting-room floor.

"It took about four or five hours to film," Prater says. "I have no idea how many takes it took. It wasn't that people were messing up. They just wanted to try it different ways."

Prater's first experience on a movie set was at Engel Stadium during the filming of the baseball movie "42."

"I just enjoyed it," he says. "I like what I do as a paramedic, but it is interesting to see how things are done on a TV or movie set. And everybody on 'Nashville' is very nice and very professional."

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.

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