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What Are You Doing With Your Certification?
The Oregon Emergency Medicial Services Office recognizes that the role of the
EMT, and EMS itself, has expanded and changed within the last twenty years.
We asked EMTs, "What are you doing with your certification?" Listed below
are articles and pictures submitted from EMTs around the state. Many EMTs are
using their skills to find new jobs, using their training to expand their
careers, or assisting their community while enjoying a recreational activity.
News articles from EMTs around the state:
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Idaho EMS Communications Center's Training Officer
David M. Habben
"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."
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Meet the Clinical Manager of the ED at OHSU/Doernbecher
Children's Hospital
Fred A. Neis, RN, MS, CEN, NREMT-P
"I am currently the Clinical Manager of the ED at
OHSU/Doernbecher Children's Hospital. I also continue to teach
EMS and emergency care providers. AMR has allowed me the
opportunity to work part time in Clackamas and Multnomah Counties
and last year I became a member of the Oregon Disaster Medical
Assistance Team."
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Do You Use the EMS Field Guide?
Ever Wonder Who Designed it?
by Jon Tardiff, EMT-P
"Our experience proves that anyone can succeed. All you need is
a good idea, and the energy to make it happen. With some of the
profits from sales of the Guides, InforMed donates to several
charities, including OHSU's paramedic program."
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Meet Sandy Fire Chief Gary McQueen, EMT-P
The first time I ever did CPR was when my Dad (a Sandy FD
Volunteer still today) & I responded on a code 99 near our home.
I was 14 at the time. When I was 17, he and I saved a fellow
Sandy High student who stopped breathing after a motorcycle
accident. I was hooked!! ? As a Fire Chief and an incident
commander, I find that being a Paramedic is highly valuable.
I am fortunate enough to still be able to respond on many calls
and I am fairly active as a Paramedic.
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Promoting and Teaching Safety
by Lou W. Bruneau, EMT-B
"I saw a need to bring Emergency Medical training and skills
to non-traditional areas and set out to do something about it.
Some of the accomplishments, of which I am most proud, include:
EMTs and First Responders within Public Works; the partnership
formed between Public Works and the Fire Service in Technical
Rescue; First-Aid and CPR training for Youth Hockey Coaches;
bringing EMTs and First Responders to Search and Rescue Teams;
and bringing First-Aid, CPR and First Responder qualified volunteers to
motor racing."
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Medical Staff for the International Police Task Force
As written by Ron A. Smith, EMT-P
"I serve as the medical staff assigned to support 80 U.S. CivPols in
East Timor. In addition to the CivPol Officers, we have an additional
15 DynCorp employees assigned to other programs in East Timor. East
Timor is located nine degrees south of the equator in the Eastern
Indonesian Archipelago, approximately 325 miles northwest of Darwin,
Australia."
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The first link...not the missing link..
911
Meet Tillamook 9-1-1 Administrator Eric
Swanson, EMT-P
"My background in EMS has been very advantageous in the 9-1-1 setting...
my EMS experience has given me the ability to see the bigger picture of
public safety - instead of fragmented pieces of the system, I can focus
on improving outcomes."
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Working in Sudan for Samaritan's Purse
by Allen Lewis, EMT-P
". . .The majority of the cases we saw were Malaria, Typhoid,
Bilharzia, and Guinea Worm. STDs were common in the 16 and 17 year old
boys.. . .Our camp was 40 miles from the front lines and while Russian
ANT-125s flew over us at frequent intervals, none ever released any bombs
near our camp."
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EMTs Working at Chiquita
by Patricia A. Harris, EMT-P
"There are five EMT employees employed here... we also see a lot of
muscle strain and carpal tunnel. This is where knowledge of body
mechanics comes in, as we will modify a job to alleviate any strain
to the employee's injured body part."
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Wallowa Memorial Hospital EMS Director
by Bruce Womack, EMT-P
"Like most other EMT's, I am a trauma junkie, but the ER part of my
job provides me with much more patient contact than I would normally
experience in ambulance operations alone. Further, because of my
rather unique job situation (ambulance, ER and hospital), I have the
opportunity to follow a patient's progress/outcome from prehospital,
through discharge (hopefully)."
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Mercy Flights Explorer Advisor
by Ed Sutton, EMT-B
"This summer I took seven explorers to... Washington D.C. We also
observed in the trauma center at Washington Hospital Center,
including the Neonatal unit, Labor & Delivery and Pathology. Some
explorers also flew on Medstar Medical Helicopters."
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As Usual, I Have To Be Different
by Lesa Cahill, RN, EMT-P
"Initially, I went to OHSU and received a Bachelor of Science degree
in Nursing.. . I received my Paramedic certificate in 1991... Now
what? I have applied to Graduate school and hope to get into a
Family Nurse Practitioner program soon. I want to minor in
Emergency Medicine and Forensics and then practice in frontier
Oregon."
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US Forest Service and
NWMT Member
Dan Wood, EMT-P
"Working with NWMT... the team traveled by dug-out canoe with
Indian guides... The people found
there had not been able to set foot on dry land for weeks and were
found living on tables and the few roof tops that could support the
weight. The team treated the flood victims while standing in badly
contaminated water and doing the best they could with the few supplies
they could carry."
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EMTs at Blue Heron Paper Mill
by Gregg Johnson, EMT-B
"On January 21, 2000 an initial report came in...
An employee was trapped when the roll, weighing 7 tons, 20 ft. long,
and about 24" in diameter, pinned his right foot to another
structure. He was conscious but in shock."
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Medical Response in the Wilderness
Environment
by Leslie Terrell, EMT-P
"Performing tasks like IV access or even taking a pulse on a patient are
quite different when your heart is pounding from a two or three mile
hike uphill with a 35 to 40 pound pack, and it is almost always uphill
to get to the patient."
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Production Medic
by Frank Weber, EMT-P
"Imagine your report to the responding transport agency: Patient fell
50 feet hitting glass roof of greenhouse. Now complaining of neck pain."
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Flight Paramedic for Mercy Flights
by Darren T. Loft, EMT-P
"During inter-facility flights, you can be
running pumps with vasoactive drugs, setting up and initiating
ventilators, interpreting labs, and setting up and monitoring pressure
transducers for central lines."
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Working for NOAA
by Michelle A. Pelkey, EMT-P
"I am the sole medical provider on ship...
We are out up to 39 days at a time and are usually
at least 4 to 5 days away from the closest point of land.
(Talk about a long transfer)."
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EMS Support in Namibia
by Eric Dildine, EMT-P
"Dr. McAninch Runzi...
offered me a substantial discount on the cost of the trip [to Namibia]
if I agreed to provide basic medical service for the students. This
opportunity was just like a dream come true for any EMS provider."
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Tactical EMS
by Jan Glarum, EMT-P
"...ask
yourself, if you suffered a life threatening injury such as a bullet
wound, how long do you want to wait for the "scene to be safe" before the
EMTs are at your side?"
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Thank you to everyone who shared a part of their lives with us. If you would
like to contribute an article, please contact Shelley at (503) 731-4011 ext.
635, or at michele.k.shute@state.or.us
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