George Keeney is expanding EMS programming at PWSC
by Vicki Heisser and Jessica Young |
The former fire chief and emergency manager for Valdez, George Keeney, started as an adjunct instructor teaching emergency medical services (EMS) at PWSC. He is now a full-time faculty member and has been busy teaching the Emergency Trauma Technician (ETT), Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), First Aid and CPR courses at the college and for dual-credit at the high school. He has also been teaching the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) courses.
George is now working to expand the EMS classes we offer at PWSC. In addition to being a certified instructor with the American Heart Association, George recently earned his instructor certification through the American Red Cross. George states, “With my American Red Cross instructor certification, I can teach more classes, like bloodborne pathogen and babysitter first aid classes.” In the near future George hopes to offer Incident Command Systems and Wilderness First Aid.
These courses are offered to everyone, but one of PWSC’s intentions is to make them available at the high school so that upon graduation, high school students can start a career in allied health. George explains, “By the time they are seniors and 18 years old, they can work on getting Alaska State and National EMT I certifications and pursue being a certified nursing assistant (CNA). If some of these kids take the EMT I in their junior year, they can actually leave high school as a certified EMT I or a CNA and walk into the job at a hospital.”