Meet EMT Andy Kelhart, Emmaus Ambulance Corps

Full name: Andrew Peter Kelhart

Where do you live? Topton

Tell us about your family:

"My wife is a retired school teacher turned administrative assistant for Air Products & Chemicals. Having been diagnosed with breast cancer several years ago and her cancer spreading shortly thereafter, she retired from APC and is currently disabled. We have no children."

Job Title/Description:

"I retired from PPL Electric Utilities in 2009 after 39 years with the utility. I currently work part-time for the as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). I also teach First Aid and CPR skills for Safety Training Associates, a firm located in Lower Macungie Township."

What inspired you to do what you do? 

"A long desire to have a tangible, positive impact on people’s lives. The world of business, selling widgets, has you focus on the sale of the product first and often, the customer’s real needs are put second. Even though you satisfy a need, the need is often a perceived need, and not meaningful, in the long run. Emergency medicine allows me to make an immediate, positive contribution to a patient’s quality of life. Whether it’s bandaging a wound, doing CPR, or simply talking to them on the way to the hospital, you are responding to a person in pain and you do your damnedest to stop it."    

What's your favorite part of your job?

"I like dealing with the elderly. I feel, being 62, I can sometimes relate to them better. Often these patients are skeptical about even going to the hospital, sometimes even apologizing for calling 911. Being a patient in an ambulance is traumatic for anyone, but in your elder years, worries are complicated by the body’s slow recovery time, the surfacing of a new injury or medical condition, worries about loved ones and the perceived burden on them."

Tell us a story you'll never forget from your EAC experience. 

"Doing CPR on a real patient, for the first time. As a trainer, I always wondered in the back of my mind, ‘Well, does CPR really work?’ My first professional experience was conducting CPR in the back of a moving ambulance. My adrenaline was pumping. I was wearing a heavy fireman-like turnout coat, and I was pale as a ghost from the exertion. I was so focused on what I was doing, I didn’t realize I was about to pass out from overheating. I’m pleased to say that the patient survived because of the teamwork and skill of the paramedics, several fellow EMTs and me -- one sweaty, pooped EMT."