By Liv Stecker
Barb Blackman enrolled in the Stevens County Sheriff’s Ambulance EMT class in the summer of 1989. An employee of the US Forest Service, wife and mother, Barb says that she had always wanted to do something in the medical field. She had considered nursing school but ruled it out because of the expense. She took the class under instructor Terry Gordon, and then immediately joined the SCSA crew for a volunteer career that would span almost three decades.
Unlike many EMTs and first responders, Barb says it wasn’t the adrenaline rush and the dramatic trauma calls that attracted her to the service, “I didn’t care about the blood and guts - I cared about making a difference.” After a horrific car accident that Barb responded to early in her career that involved four critical patients when her partner suffered a seizure on scene, Barb says she has always preferred responding to medical calls and dealing with the elderly. “I just love doing it. Knowing I might make a difference in someone’s life.” She recalls holding the hand of many frightened senior citizens in their moment of crisis.
Barbara Denhert grew up on the west side of the state in the Kent area just south of Seattle. After a visit to the Colville area, Barb and her family fell in love with the place. She relocated here in 1978 and got a job with the Forest Service as an Information Technology specialist, where she remained until her retirement after 33 years with the agency. The Forest Service was flexible with Barb when she worked extra shifts on call during times that staffing was low at SCSA. “They knew if I came to work in my EMT uniform that I might run out any second,” she laughs. Most of her shifts over more than 26 years were during the night - some packed with calls from start to finish, so she’d stagger into work the next day sleepless and exhausted.
As soon as the ambulance service offered the EMT intermediate class, Barb jumped on board, learning how to administer IVs and use a variety of life saving drugs. She served as an EMTI for a large part of her career with the ambulance. For all of the hard parts of being a volunteer EMT, including sleepless nights and long drives to remote locations only to be cancelled when the patient changed their mind, Barb says it was worth it. “It’s such a gratifying feeling - knowing you might make a difference.” She emphasizes the word might, reflecting on many calls that didn’t end in success. Even still, being there for the family members, and knowing how to help in the event of a tragedy, is enough. In fact, it’s one of the reasons she decided to take the EMT class - after her dad took a spill from a horse, and later when she witnessed a bad car wreck, Barb didn’t know what to do. Until she became an EMT.
It was while Barb was working as an EMT that she met a tall, laid back police officer who was working for the city of Colville. She married Tim Blackman and they raised their combined family in Colville. After 11 years with the Colville Police Department, he went to work as a Stevens County Deputy for 17 years, until he retired last year.
In addition to faithfully performing six shifts a month - three primary crew and three back up shifts (this is the agency minimum requirement at SCSA), Barb also helped tirelessly with training new recruits for the ambulance service. A CPR and first aid instructor, she taught and assisted with countless classes, as well as teaching mandatory first aid for all of the ranger districts on the Colville National Forest. She developed a mentor program to correspond with incoming EMT classes to provide on-the-job peer training for new EMTs, making sure students emerged from the process with enough experience to survive in the field. For the last two decades every student that has joined SCSA from the EMT basic class has enjoyed the privilege of training with Barb under her concise, no nonsense strategy of hands-on learning. “It feels good to watch somebody I helped train move on in the medical field,” she says. Many former EMT basics have gone on to become paramedics and more. “I like to think I helped them get further than I did!” she smiles. Barb has a knack for letting new EMTs figure out how to apply text book rules to the dynamic and ever-changing scenarios in the field. “Every run is different, every patient is different - you can’t just pull out a book and read how to treat somebody on a call. You have to think out of the box.” She says.
Mentoring new EMTs has been a huge part of Barb’s service to the community as SCSA. Watching new candidates come into the classes is always an adventure, knowing not all of them will stay the course. “You have to know that this is really what you want to do,” she says. “It’s not all about trauma...You have to commit to all of the parts and pieces, missing out on things, sacrificing time.” Barb knows this sacrifice first hand, after more than 26 years, but she also knows the reward. “It matters. You (the responder) matter. What you do for the community every single day matters.” She says. And Barb understands how important it is to do what matters. In February of 2016, Barb retired from Stevens County Sheriff’s Ambulance, two years after her retirement from the Forest Service. Her husband Tim was recently diagnosed with cancer, and Barb said that once again her EMT skills have proven useful at home as she walks through the trials of chemotherapy with him. Between treatments, the Blackmans are capturing the most of every minute, spending time with family, camping and traveling - enjoying retirement in good form.
For new EMTs, or people who are considering taking the class and becoming community volunteers, Barb says she has no regrets. All of the time, the lost sleep, the missed events - she says the commitment was worth it in the investment into her community. As both she and Tim have served the county diligently for nearly 30 years, they are set to enjoy retirement while the community they have loved gears up to kick back a little bit in their direction. On August 27th, at the Fort Colville Grange, there will be a “Bingo for Blue” fundraiser for Tim and his family to offset the growing expenses of his cancer treatments. The evening starts at 5:00 with a spaghetti feed and includes a live auction, silent auction, raffle, and bingo for a $5 buy in. For more information or to donate raffle prizes, there is a Facebook event page called Bingo for Blue.
