"Hello! I'm Chris. I'm a nationally registered EMT as well as a trained and certified Wilderness and Disaster Search & Rescue Technician II.

I got my start in Spartanburg, SC by volunteering for the Spartanburg County Office of Emergency Management (SCOEM), assisting the office with disaster response and management, EOC operations, supplies distribution, and emergency shelter operations. Quickly I received a multitude of medical and Search & Rescue related certifications such as EMR, Search & Rescue Technician II, Wilderness First Aid, Floodwater Rescue, Helicopter Operations, Land Navigation, Crime Scene preservation and protocol, among many others. I volunteered with SCOEM for over a year, leading dozens of missing persons searches as well as numerous FEMA disaster deployments including to Western North Carolina for ground/K9 search operations in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

During my time with SCOEM I also spent a large amount of my free time volunteering for county EMS through a program offered by the office which allowed aspiring EMTs/Paramedics to get hands-on experience responding to lower acuity 911 medical calls under the supervision of registered EMS personnel. These programs allowed me to gain useful knowledge and real-world experience very early on. When I went to EMT school through my community college, I graduated the program top of my class with honors and was immediately offered a full-time EMT position with my county's municipal 911 EMS agency.

I eventually moved out of South Carolina and now reside in Arizona, working full-time on an ambulance within the Phoenix area and volunteering for the Sheriff's Office Search & Rescue team.

My vast real-world and field experience within EMS and SAR gives me a fantastic opportunity to pass on that knowledge to students who, whether aspiring to practice medicine in the back of an ambulance or on top of a mountain, will be given a great foundation to begin their career in emergency medical services." less...