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Idaho EMS Communication Center's Training Officer
David M. Habben
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As many people will tell you, once you become involved in EMS,
your career-related activities just seem to multiply. Most EMTs and
paramedics I know don't just work their full-time job in EMS. Many
are involved in other related activities such as various panels or
committees, volunteer organizations, teaching CPR and first aid
classes, etc. My EMS career has been no different. I grew up in the
Chicago area, and began my life in emergency services in law
enforcement. I attended college at Calumet College in East Chicago,
Indiana and worked with departments in NW Indiana during the early
1970s. My marriage took me to Oregon, where I took my first EMT
course at Chemeketa Community College in Salem. I was hooked. I did
an "internship" with Willamette Ambulance in Salem, and then was
hired by Medical Services, Inc. (MSI) in Eugene in 1979. Over the
next few years, I attended Chemeketa and Lane Community College to
obtain my Oregon EMT-4 and National Registry Paramedic certifications.
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In mid-1981, MSI ceased operations and I traveled south to Grants
Pass, Oregon. I began working for a new paramedic ambulance,
Community One, based at Josephine Memorial Hospital. During my five
years with Community One, I became an EMS and ACLS instructor. I
taught classes to the public, to emergency responders, and in EMT
courses at Rogue Community College. I was also the Medical Care
Division Coordinator for the county disaster management agency, and
worked for Mercy Flights air ambulance in Medford.
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In late 1986, I took a major leap in my EMS career. The Idaho
State EMS Bureau hired me as a Regional Training Specialist. Within
a few years, I was State EMS Training Coordinator. During this time,
I began writing and contributing to various EMS textbooks, developed
instructor resource manuals, and other training material. I became
an on-site evaluator for the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance
Services (CAAS), and a member of ASTM, and did periodic work for the
Society of Academic Emergency Medicine, the Technical Advisory
Service to Attorneys, the National Assessment Institute, and
coordinated Idaho's EMS Critical Incident Stress Debriefing team.
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In mid-1993, I began working for the Idaho State EMS Communications
Center. At that time, the center dispatched approximately 30 EMS
units throughout the state, and was also the Poison Control Center
for Idaho. Today, StateComm continues to dispatch EMS, but now has
taken on the task of hazardous materials response coordination, air
ambulance flight following, and after-hours communications for the
Idaho Transportation Department. I am Training Officer for the
center. I also have been a Regional Instructor for Priority Dispatch
(Emergency Medical Dispatch and Emergency Telecommunicator) for the
past six years. Besides my full time job at StateComm, I travel all
over the country instructing EMD and ETC courses, and continue to
write textbook material, instruct CPR and EMS classes, and perform
on-site evaluations for CAAS.
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Just to confirm to people how "different" EMS people can be, my
hobby is documenting and photographing cemeteries and gravestones.
You never know where you'll end up after that first EMT course!
David M. Habben, Paramedic
dhabben@aol.com
Oregon certified since 1979
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