What Do a Pilot, a Soldier and a Cop Have in Common?

Did you ever want to be a pilot, soldier or a cop when you grew up? Skip Kirkwood didn't, but he likes the way they think.

On Oct. 28 at the EMS Expo conference, Wake County EMS Chief Skip Kirkwood, MS, JD, EMT-P, EFO, CMO, delivered a session called "Chief Officer Survival: Managing Special Situations." One of his messages was to take lessons from other disciplines, like aviation, the military and law enforcement, and adapt those strategies for EMS.

Sounds idealistic, but here's the story that brings it home.

A few years ago, Wake County EMS lost a patient care reporting computer. Gone. They didn't have a pre-plan for this kind of event, and Kirkwood found himself making decisions "on the fly" -- some of which weren't the best, he says in hindsight.

After that incident, Wake County researched accident avoidance and crisis management processes of other industries, particularly the airline industry and the military. Kirkwood and his leadership team used some of those concepts to develop pre-plans and strategies for training and preparing for "the next unanticipated crisis."

Kirkwood's presentation shared their lessons learned so that for each attendee, their next crisis would be less painful.

But it's hard to take the pain out of line-of-duty deaths (LODDs), which he says are always difficult to manage effectively. Again, planning for this kind of emotionally stressful situation is key. His advice is to have a good plan or protocol, with pre-assigned ICS roles and "task cards" to serve as reminders. In his agency, they've developed a comprehensive plan and shared it with all the potential players.

Not one to take advice from just anyone, I asked Kirkwood about his street cred. He began in EMS in 1973 as a hospital corpsman in the Navy, where he served ashore, aboard a nuclear ballistic missile submarine, and with the U.S. Marines. He mentioned that EMT training was just becoming common at the time, so everywhere the Navy sent him, he took classes, and because of his interest, he always got assigned to "ambulance duty." He became a nationally registered paramedic in 1984.

Kirkwood said he never really had a mentor as he was coming up in EMS, in part because there just weren't many around. He noted that he always admired and followed Jim Page, and Page's influence was a factor in his decision to go to law school.

With 25 years of EMS behind him, I wondered what keeps him moving forward. When asked what he loves most about EMS, he said, "It's young and it's growing, and most of the people attracted to it genuinely want to help people and improve their communities."

From teaching the masses at national conferences to his direct peer interactions on JEMS Connect, Kirkwood is definitely one of those genuine people.


Watch a webcast about http://www.jems.com/webcasts/Prehospital_Hypothermic_Resuscitation...." target="_blank">Wake County's therapeutic hypothermia program
Read Kirkwood's ideas about vehicle design
Read more about Wake County EMS