2017 Update
Ken King (EMTP '82), critical lead, air medical crew STARS Air Ambulance
"I've been with STARS so long because I enjoy doing it. It's a life's work. I consider myself lucky to be able to do it. Being the first STARS paramedic to fly 1,000 missions was just tenure. I was there all the time! There's a bunch of us who have it now. I enjoy the opportunity to make a difference, to work the challenging cases and to help people survive. Even when things aren't survivable, there's still an opportunity to help the family and others involved.
Keeping up with the medicine and the advancements in the field is the challenging part. I am studying right now for the International Trauma Life Support, a course that I need for my Saskatchewan registration. We are registered in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, since we practice in all those areas. Some of the qualifications are transferable, but some aren't. Keeping up to date is non-stop. At STARS, that's one of the advantages: the physicians give us training and an incredible amount of support. We do case reviews, rounds, education. It never stops.
The biggest thing we need from the communities we operate in is their support and their engagement. The donations are what really allow STARS to keep its focus on the patient and to practice leading-edge medicine that makes a difference."
Ken King was part of SAIT's graduating class of the Emergency Medical Technology program in 1982. He along with the rest of his class were all hired by The City of Calgary. Ken signed on as a volunteer flight paramedic under his precept physician, Dr. Greg Powell, who founded STARS Air Ambulance in 1985. He joined the organization that same year and in 2012, became the first STARS paramedic to fly 1,000 missions. Currently he is critical lead on the air ambulance crew with STARS. Ken recently surpassed his three-decade anniversary as a flight paramedic with STARS.