As paramedic, Kevin Wieberg does "what an emergency room can do'

This 2013 file photo shows Kevin Wieberg of the Cole County EMS Service.
This 2013 file photo shows Kevin Wieberg of the Cole County EMS Service.

It didn't take long for Kevin Wieberg to figure out working with emergency services was what he wanted to do with is life.

When he was 20, he started working with the ambulance service, then run by Capital Region Medical Center.

"Their insurance wouldn't allow me to ride in the ambulances, but I could do the dispatching so that's what I did," he said.

In 2005, he started working on the ambulances as an EMT, and in 2009 got his license to be a paramedic.

"The difference between the two is that an EMT does basic life-support work, such as bleeding control, splinting and patient assessment," Wieberg said. "Paramedics do advanced care like IV therapy, drug administration and cardiac monitoring. There's a lot more to the job than just driving the ambulance."

Wieberg said EMTs have to do around 200 hours of course work and another 200 hours of clinic work to be licensed, and to be a paramedic requires an additional 400 hours of classroom and clinic work.

"We do what an emergency room can do," he said. "There's a lot of care that gets done with the patient before they get to the hospital. There are a lot of people surprised we can put in IVs in a moving ambulance."

His current duties with the Cole County EMS Service include managing the ambulance dispatch center and doing special event planning, coordinating how ambulances and their crews will service the Salute to America or Jefferson City Jaycees Cole County Fair.

Along with his EMS duties, Wieberg is a volunteer firefighter with the Cole County Fire Protection District and is an assistant chief for the first responders medical unit that assists on medical calls in the county. He is also a tactical medic for the Cole County Sheriff's Department and does communications for the HAZMAT team.

"On my off days, I spend them at work, but I have a beautiful fiancée and 2-year-old girls, so that's the fun part of my life," Wieberg said.