(This week The Columbian-Progress spotlights AAA Ambulance Service Clinical Outreach Coordinator Kevin Heurtin.)
Q: When and where were you born?
A: I was born March 16, 1973, in New Orleans.
Q: Where did you attend school?
A: I went to three different high schools. I went to Columbia High School, then I moved to Texas and went to Lufkin High School, then moved back and graduated from Columbia Academy. I got an associate’s degree in paramedicine from Jones College in 1996. To be a paramedic you have to have your EMT training first so I did that right after I got out of high school.
Q: Where do you work? Tell us about your job/company.
A: I am the clinical outreach coordinator for AAA Ambulance Services. I do liaison work with the fire departments, and I also take care of the OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) side with the safety rules and regulations. I also handle all of our EKG monitors if they have any kind of issues. My new job is risk analysis. I do a little bit of everything.
Q: What led you to your profession?
A: I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up. A friend of mine was in EMT school, and I thought that was pretty cool so I decided to go to EMT school. I figured I could work as an EMT until I figured out what I wanted to do, and it just progressed on until I got my paramedic license. I’ve been in it ever since. I’m going on my 28th year.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?
A: The interaction with people, and it’s never the same thing. You’re out and about, and you don’t have that feeling of being stuck in an office. You get out and see different things, which is a pro. The downside of that is having to be out during tornados and stuff like that. But I like interacting with the public, crew members, hospital staff and nursing home staff. You keep that rapport with them.
Q: What is the most challenging aspect of your job?
A: The public doesn’t really understand what EMS does, and I think that’s partly our fault. Over the years I don’t think we’ve educated the people in what EMS does. Everybody watches “Nightwatch” on TV that follows paramedics around in New Orleans. Their paramedics have the same training our paramedics have. Everybody thinks that they have this elite EMS system down there, but our system here is just the same as theirs for the most part. That’s the biggest challenge: getting people to understand that we don’t just throw you in the back of the truck.
Q: What is the most important lesson you have learned in your career?
A: Patience, patience, patience. You have to be patient with your patients and their family members. When a patient goes to the ER with an upset family member, the hospital has another nurse or a social worker to take the family member to a little room and talk to them to calm them down. With us it’s not so much that. We’re not only just treating the patient, but we’re also treating the family. They’re upset because they don’t know what’s going on while you’re trying to treat the patient so you have to communicate to them what’s going on. You learn patience to be patient with everybody and with the system itself because it’s full of rules and regulations.
Q: What was your first job?
A: I worked at Winn-Dixie when I was about 15 or 16. I also mowed yards when I was younger.
Q: Who is the person who has been most influential in your life?
A: My grandfather, Jack Bowman. He always gave me good advice and always very supportive. Wrong or right, it never did matter. He gave you his opinion whether you liked it or whether you didn’t, which is most times what you need as a young person. He was always extremely supportive regardless of what I did wrong or right.
Q: What is your spouse’s name?
A: Melanie Heurtin. She’s a nurse for Deaconess HomeCare.
Q: Do you have children?
A: I have two. Cade is 16, and Sophie is 14.
Q: If you could have anything for your last meal on earth, what would it be?
A: A steak cooked medium on the grill.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: I want to go to Ireland. I picture Ireland as having luscious, green, rolling hills, and I want to see that.
Q: What hobbies do you like to do in your spare time?
A: I love to travel and go all over, even day trips. I like going to North Carolina in the mountains or going down to the beach. I don’t like to sit at home. I like to go out and do things and spend time with my family. My dad’s side is all in New Orleans so I go down there to see my sister and all of them. We’ll go to the different festivals and stuff like that.
Q: What do you enjoy about Columbia and Marion County?
A: I like that it’s a small town. I don’t mind the hustle and bustle of a big city, but especially with this coronavirus stuff I think people are realizing there’s nothing wrong with just slowing down, taking a breath and enjoying what’s around us.
Q: If you could have lunch with anyone from your life or history, who would it be and why?
A: My grandfather. He passed away last February. One of the memes I saw yesterday said, “You never know what pain is until you try to talk to someone you can’t talk to anymore.” He’s been that influential person in my life, always been there and took care of me and was a phone call away no matter where I was at.
Q: If you didn’t have to worry about money, what would you do all day?
A: I’d probably still work because I enjoy and love my job. But I’d travel more.
Q: What moment in your life has had the biggest impact on who you are today?
A: Dec. 28, 2003, when my son was born. That’s when you realize that things change, and it’s not about you anymore. There are a lot of situations I would’ve handled differently, but you realize then when you have your first child that it’s bigger than just you.
Q: Using one word for each, what are your top three morals?
A: Integrity, respectfulness and appreciation.
Q: How would you like to be remembered?
A: I want to be remembered as fun. I don’t drink or do anything like that, but I always try to make everything a positive situation and lighten the mood. I don’t like to be uptight. You have to be serious when it comes to things like the coronavirus, but you also have to lighten the mood and lessen the tension when people are scared to death.
