A Fresh Start
No sooner had I begun teaching EMS and fire courses at COM when I was alerted that we needed recertification with the county EMS Authority. Compartmentalizing all my terror and shivering through cortisol adrenaline showers, I contacted the Chief Administrator, Chris Le Baudour, for a meet-and-greet…and freak-out. I didn’t know the passcode for the department voicemail, much less where contracts and student records were filed. To further muck matters, our Administrative Expert was on maternity leave, busy caring for her newborn daughter. Together with Alexander Jacamo and Kathleen Antokhin, we produced habeas courses to a level acceptable enough for the high brass. Mr Le Baudour was nothing but accommodating and helpful once he realized our situation and proposed a deal: we begin again, from the ground up, renewing contracts, redesigning our NREMT Psychomotor Skills to current specifications, and he would champion our program to the California State EMS Authority, and assist COM with being the flagship EMS agency in Marin County.
Crisis creates opportunities, and this was never so clear as it was here. Since then, we’ve been in step with Marin EMSA, having renewed all forms and contracts. In return, we’ve received donated EMS inventory and supplies from them, and Mr. Le Baudour and I have brokered a deal with the Marin County Fire Department to annex their America Heart CPR/First Aid Training Center contract to have a CPR program at the College of Marin at last. In hindsight, landing on Chris’ radar and getting called to the principal’s office at my outset was the best trouble I’ve wandered into. Taking one for the team is what being a leader is all about.
