New paramedic comes to Sisters

Ben Bruegeman. photo by Jim Cornelius Ben Bruegeman is the new paramedic with the Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District.

Bruegeman reported for work November 15 after completing both his fire science and paramedic studies at Chemeketa Community College in Salem. He is the 10th paramedic now working for the fire district.

Paramedic service is the highest of three levels of emergency medical services provided by the district, starting with the fire responder level, the intermediate level and then the paramedic level.

Bruegeman was raised in Douglas, Wyoming for 10 years before his family moved to Salem, where he graduated from McKay High School. During this time Bruegeman worked four summers at Camp Pioneer Boy Scout Camp in the North Santiam area and earned his Eagle Scout rank. There he worked as a counselor, taught snorkeling classes and worked in the kitchen.

During his studies at Chemeketa and for the summer after graduation, he worked as an intern for a private ambulance company and as a volunteer firefighter for Marion County Fire District No. 1. Following graduation last June, he worked as a temporary paramedic for the Marion County Fire District until applying for the Sisters position.

He's already had a little more excitement than the job usually entails.

Last May Bruegeman was riding as a paramedic intern in a Salem Fire Department ambulance on a medical run in downtown Salem. When the ambulance driver passed out from a medical problem, the other paramedic in the passenger seat attempted to steer the ambulance to safety. He managed to dodge a concrete building, but hit a large oak tree head-on going between 30 and 40 miles an hour, uprooting the tree and totaling two BMW automobiles in a car lot.

Riding in the back of the ambulance and wearing a seatbelt, Ben came through the accident only shaken up. The other two medics were badly injured. The ambulance cab and the patient compartment had separated by about two and one-half feet. Ben was able to reach through to the cab and provide aid to the others. The radio communications in the vehicle were out, but soon a citizen was on the scene with a cell phone.

"I phoned the dispatcher and told him to send the cavalry," Bruegeman recalled. For his quick thinking and medical aid, he was awarded the Medal of Valor from the Oregon Emergency Services Office.

Bruegeman looks forward to the Central Oregon lifestyle.

He enjoys all of the outdoor recreational opportunities here. He also is an avid snorkeling enthusiast, making trips to the Hood Canal and Puget Sound area in the state of Washington.

"I'm looking forward to moving back to a small community like Douglas, Wyoming," he said. "This is a very nice department. I enjoyed visiting here several days before my interview and I am looking forward to serving this community and getting to know people."

Bruegeman is single and has a brother in the military, now serving in Germany, but getting ready to be deployed to Afghanistan.

"He is pursuing his dream just as I am here," Bruegeman said.

While the Sisters-Camp Sherman RFPD provides fire protection to a 250-square-mile area with a year-round population of about 4,000, that population increases to 10,000 to 20,000 during the summer. The ambulance service district covers from halfway to Bend and Redmond on the east to halfway to Detroit and into the McKenzie River area on the west.