I went to work for Buck Ambulance when I moved to Portland in 1979, and remained in their employment for 2 years. I then moved to Newport where Eileen Filler and myself eventually owned and operated Lincoln County Ambulance for 14 and years.

In 1992, I attended Physician Assistant School at USC in Los Angeles. It was there I became aware of the United States Public Health Service, my current employer. Upon graduation I was detailed to the Bureau of Prisons and assigned to the Federal Correctional Institution at Sheridan, Oregon. I was there for 5 years until I transferred to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), where I have been for a little over two years.

At both the BOP and NOAA I have relied heavily on my emergency medicine background and paramedic training. During my time at the prison I often worked swing or graveyard shift, the idea being of course to be there should any emergencies occur, as normal sick calls occurred during day shift. As you might expect in an environment like that, trauma situations were fairly frequent. Since the population ranged in age from 18 to 70, cardiac arrests and respiratory distress emergencies were not uncommon. Without a doubt my EMS background gave me an edge in a somewhat hostile and volatile environment.

I rely even more on my EMS experience in my current assignment. I am the sole medical provider on ship that travels to the equator to recover and deploy buoys used in research to study the effects of El Nino and La Nina. 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). While NOAA certainly tries to hire healthy individuals we all know there are no guarantees. Shortness of breath, chest pains, palpations, foreign bodies in the eye, trauma from a busted cable have been some of my cases on the ship over the last two years.

Because I am the sole provider I function under standing orders much as I did as a paramedic in Oregon. Because of my past experience working in that environment it made for a very smooth transition into my current assignment.


Truth be told if I did not have the EMS background that I do I don't think I would have taken the job out here. In almost every situation I fall back on my EMS knowledge and training to initially evaluate and stabilize the patient.

Most of the pictures I have enclosed are of the buoy work the ship does, of which I am an active participant. Sorry there aren't any action medical shots, nobody seems to have a camera at the right time.

Michelle A. Pelkey, EMT-P
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration