Tom Durkee - San Jose/Silicon Valley CALIFORNIA (South Bay)

I was raised in a military family, my mother’s side of the family are all NAVY sailors, and my father’s side of the family are all ARMY soldiers. My father was a military police officer during the Vietnam War and most of my uncles are firefighters or paramedics. My brother-in-law is a State police officer. I chose not to go into the military; I went to college instead. I am the first member of my family on either side to complete a college degree. I learned my business acumen by watching my father operate his business and I get my love of the arts from my mother who is a musician and artist.

Growing up in Battle Creek, Michigan was great… the Cereal City. My life was full of sugary cereals and Pop-Tarts. During junior high, I used to go visit my uncles at Emmett Rescue Squad and make a couple of dollars washing ambulances. I would even ride along on some of their calls. I completed high school at Harper Creek, one of the top high schools in the State of Michigan, with a college prep track. I was on the swim team there, which led to a college scholarship and I began swimming in college at age 17. I have two letters in swimming, and I was the swim team captain during my final year of competitive swimming. During those swim team years, I took lifeguard training including CPR and First-Aid, and saved my first life using CPR. I was hooked. I took EMT classes and eventually, Paramedic classes. I began volunteering as an EMT at Emmett Rescue in 1987 and was hired in part-time in 1988. I became a full-time EMT in 1989. By 1991 I was a paramedic supervisor, and by 1993 I was Emmett’s Director of Operations. I motivated, trained, hired, fired, and scheduled employees until Emmett merged with another area ALS provider, in order to keep AMR out.

After the merger, I went back to school at Western Michigan University where I earned two separate bachelor’s degrees (BBA and BS), and two Master’s degrees (MBA & MHCA). I began teaching EMT classes part-time while I was in school. I then transferred to a top-tier university; the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health (highly ranked) and finished in August of 2006 with a Master of Public Health. Since then, I have been taking classes at FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute as well as the Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Domestic Preparedness. I consider myself highly proficient in the field of bioterrorism/public health preparedness.

I enjoy University of Michigan football games, the occasional game of pool, swimming, water polo, riding my mountain bike (nothing too aggressive), driving up and down the West Coast, Utah (anything in Utah is fun), 4-wheeling in Moab, windsurfing the Hood River, jet skiing on Lake Michigan, and skiing/snowboarding down Mt. Hood. One day I am going to make it to Thailand where some of my friends from college are. Alaska is on the to-do list as well. But whatever happens and wherever I go, I will always be a Paramedic at heart.