For David Kohlstedt, following his passion has paid off in the form of a rewarding career.
By Laura Thill
Sometimes the pieces fit together just right. For David Kohlstedt, since his school days, there’s been little question that healthcare was the right field for him to pursue. “I have always been passionate about helping others and joined the healthcare industry in 1983,” says Kohlstedt, an account manager for Tri-anim. Not to sound corny, he adds, “but when I was a kid it was the lights, the sirens and the shiny stuff” that attracted him to the industry. By the time he entered high school and began to consider a profession that would interest him, “it just seemed natural that I would go into the fire service as a firefighter/paramedic.
“My senior year of high school, I enrolled in a vocational program that gave me the opportunity to work [weekday afternoons] as a student aid/orderly at Palos Community Hospital (Palos Heights, Ill.),” Kohlstedt continues. He also joined the Orland Fire Protection District (Orland Park, Ill.) as a cadet. Once he graduated, the hospital hired him full time in the emergency room, and the fire department took him on as a paid-on-call employee until 1987, when he was promoted to a full-time firefighter paramedic. In 1993, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant.
“There is an indescribable feeling and satisfaction that you get when you are able to help somebody who is in need,” says Kohlstedt. “This feeling is multiplied exponentially when you can help someone during a crisis [he or she] may be having. [Not only that], the excitement that goes along with the job, and the camaraderie you have with the men and women you work with, is something you can’t find anywhere else.
“At the Orland fire protection District we were cross-trained as Firefighters/Paramedics,” Kohlstedt continues. “At each station we would have an ambulance, as well as a variety of fire suppression vehicles (e.g., engines, trucks, and or a squad). I worked a shift schedule of 24/48 and lived at the firehouse every third day – meaning I was on duty for 24 hours, and off for 48.” Although his shift was scheduled to end at 7:00 a.m., there were days when an early-morning call came in, detaining him and his colleagues well beyond quitting time. “On many occasions we would be dispatched around 6:00 a.m. and, depending on [the nature of the call], might not get off till noon.” A typical day’s work also involved vehicle inspections and housework, as well as a training exercise or two, he adds.
In 1999, after 16 years, Kohlstedt made the decision to transition into a sales role. It was a good fit, he recalls of the first job he took in automotive aftermarket sales. But an even better opportunity arose when a recruiter called him about a position that became available in Tri-anim’s EMS division – currently called Bound Tree Medical.
“Sales is about taking care of the customers’ needs,” says Kohlstedt. “I learned how to do that from my experience in automotive aftermarket sales. But, when the opportunity at Tri-anim opened up, this was fantastic!” Emergency medical equipment was something he knew and loved, and it was clear that this would be a perfect fit, he points out.
A helping hand
Not being able to take care of another person’s needs can be frustrating, particularly for one who devotes his days to providing his customers with the best possible solutions. Such was the case for Kohlstedt on a recent flight with his manufacturer rep partner, Brian Kroes, a territory manager at Flexicare. “Brian and I were sitting in the second-to-last row of the airplane,” he recalls. “A flight attendant asked the gentleman sitting next to us in the aisle seat if he could move, as they had a passenger who was not feeling well and needed to be near the lavatory.
“Looking over my shoulder, I could see there were three flight attendants standing around the open lavatory door,” he continues. “When I asked the first flight attendant what was wrong with the passenger, she told me he was nauseous and sweaty. I informed her that I am a retired paramedic and asked if there was anything I could do to help. She immediately said there was, and asked if I could take a look at him.”
The passenger, who appeared to be in his late 70s, exhibited symptoms of a possible heart attack, he explains. “I stayed with him for the remaining 30 minutes or so of the flight. During that time I monitored his vitals and made sure we had everything ready in the event that things got worse.” As it turned out, Kroes had a Flexicare dual-cannula in his bag. Hesitant to place an airline oxygen mask on the ill man in case he vomited, Kohlstedt believed the Flexicare cannula would provide a perfect solution. Unfortunately he couldn’t use it, because the oxygen bottle on board was not a fit.
“Medical emergencies occur on flights quite a bit,” Kohlstedt says. “It would have been great if I could have connected the cannula. Instead, I held an orange airline oxygen mask in front of the patient’s face, while I applied a cold compress to the back of his head.” A tense situation, yes. But, once a paramedic, always a paramedic. “”Even as a retired paramedic, it all comes back to you,” he says. Upon landing in Chicago, the patient was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital. Although he never learned how the ill passenger fared, Kohlstedt has made a point to follow up with the airline and recommend they prepare better for emergencies such as this one.
Flying high
As grounded as Kohlstedt is on the job, when it comes to relaxing, he takes off – literally. “I have a commercial multi-engine aircraft license, so I can fly both single and twin engine aircraft under 12,500 pounds,” he says. Although it’s becoming increasingly challenging to find the time to fly, he is committed to flying at least every 90 days in order to keep his license current.
It appears that staying current with the new aircraft technology can be equally as challenging as staying current with new medical technology. “Most of the newer aircraft have glass cockpits, and it’s truly amazing what they can do,” says Kohlstedt. In addition to keeping up with new electronics, pilots must take constant steps to avoid mishaps, such as allowing external pressures to influence critical decisions they make while airborne. “[It’s important for pilots to conduct] a thorough preflight inspection and follow checklists through every phase of the flight,” he says.
“The farthest I have flown is to Key West in a twin Cessna 310,” he says. “There are so many things that I enjoy when I am flying. The complexity of the whole process takes my mind off of everything else that’s going on. I really love it.”
Training and prep
Perhaps one of the biggest lessons Kohlstedt has learned over the years is that training and preparation are critical to a successful outcome. “Whether you are in the back of an ambulance, in the cockpit of an airplane or in the office of a customer, you need to be prepared for [each] moment and anything that may arise during that time,” he says. “You must have a clearly defined destination before you start, and do the preparation necessary to get you there.
“I have always enjoyed keeping busy, and I have always enjoyed the work I’ve done,” he says. “And, I continue to do so at Tri-anim, calling on respiratory and anesthesia departments for our acute care division.”