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Alaska Paramedic and Wildland Firefighter Ryan Keogh Discusses Rural Medical and Paramedic Care at Center for MEDICS Cambridge, MA, March 2011 – Ryan Keogh, an Alaska native, spends his summers with the Alaska Division of Forestry on the front line, fighting wildland fires in the backwoods of Alaska and Canada, and his winters as an ambulance-based paramedic in the small towns of rural Alaska. He also works with the Alaska State Troopers as-needed as a primary paramedic for the SWAT team. As the only certified paramedic employed by the Division of Forestry, Keogh is also called on to administer first aid and medical care to his fellow firefighters in the field.
During his time at Center for MEDICS, Keogh explains to students how working as a paramedic in small towns and rural areas can be different than working in busy urban centers. He uses his experiences to illustrate how emergency systems outside of larger cities operate, and to help the paramedic students learn about a variety of emergency medical systems. “You need to be open-minded to all the different environments that can use your paramedic skills,” says Keogh. “The skills students learn at Center for MEDICS are in demand everywhere.” During the firefighting season, from April to roughly November, Keogh’s primary occupation is as a wildland firefighter. As part of a Hot Shot Crew of around 20 men, Keogh can be called on to treat injured fellow firefighters on the line. He has learned how to make creative use of field equipment to administer first aid and treat minor injuries, such as small lacerations and burns, to get the men back on the line as quickly as possible. He must triage quickly and accurately, and multi-task effectively, with very limited medical resources. From approximately November to April, Keogh works as an ambulance-based paramedic in Wasilla, Alaska, a town of about 20,000 and the third busiest paramedic department in the state. With only a handful of large hospitals in all of Alaska, paramedics like Keogh are called on to assist with transporting critical patients long distances, via ground and air transport. Paramedics must be able to handle a wide variety of needs for these critical or emergency care patients during transport without the back up of a hospital staff just around the corner, as well as interact with patients and keeping them calm for multiple hours. Keogh received his paramedic certification in 2005, while studying under Center for MEDICS Director, Chris Kerley, at Northeastern University. About Pro EMS Center for MEDICS Pro EMS Center for MEDICS is the premiere paramedic education program and simulation training lab for emergency medical services in the Northeast. As the first, and only, nationally accredited paramedic program in the state of Massachusetts, the Center for MEDICS offers one of the most rigorous paramedic programs in the U.S., as well as a variety of specialty courses that are designed to allow EMS service providers to achieve the highest standards in the industry. The Center works with all members of the EMS community - from EMTs and Paramedics to Firefighters, Police Officers, Military Personnel, Physicians, and Nurses. It is the only EMS educational facility in Massachusetts to be accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) upon the recommendation of the Committee on Accreditation of Educational Programs for the Emergency Medical Services Professions (CoAEMSP). The Center is also accredited by Massachusetts Department of Public Health as a Training Institution. More information about Pro EMS Center for MEDICS can be found at www.centerformedics.com or by calling (617) 682-1811. Media contact:
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Keogh recently spent two weeks at the Pro EMS Center for MEDICS in Cambridge, MA, one of a series of guest presenters and mentors brought in to give paramedic students a unique perspective on the job, and skills, for which they are training, and exposing them to the different career choices available to them upon graduation.
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Center for MEDICS
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