This is the second installment in our series of staff profiles. This week, meet Sandy Fraser. He is a remote-site medic and instructor for Remote Medical.
He’s worked as everything from sailboat racing crew member to nightclub bouncer, but, in any case, Remote Medical instructor and remote-site medic Sandy Fraser does not mess around. Sandy is currently the remote-site paramedic and primary medical provider on a seismic research vessel in the Arctic Circle.
“As a remote medic, you really are the eyes, ears, and hands of the physicians,†he said. Remote-site medic work comes with a whole host of challenges, and right now, for Sandy, they range from the common cold to severe hypothermia to worse. “You don’t have the option of just sending a patient to the hospital. You have to think about how far from port you are, how long it might take to turn the boat around.†Lucky for the crew, Sandy is no stranger to difficult situations.
Sandy did not start in the remote medical field. “I joined the Navy because I wanted to fly helicopters,†Sandy told me. It was during flight school down in Pensacola, Florida that the Navy discovered he could swim. He swam well enough that the Navy moved him out of flight school and gave him a job as a Combat Search and Rescue Swimmer. “Those guys in the movie ‘Top Gun’ that jump out of helicopters to save Maverick? That was pretty much my job,†joked Sandy. After his first tour with the Navy, Sandy worked as a Rope Rescue instructor in Virginia for a rescue squad before again changing careers.
Despite spending time aboard a sailboat in the Caribbean, the soldier in Sandy brought him back to the front lines. In the mid 1990’s Sandy worked in Bosnia as a protection specialist for a team of doctors. “I taught military-style first-aid to anyone that was interested.†No small feat, given that Sandy had to use whatever local materials he could find in a country decimated by civil war.
Sandy also worked in Iraq several times, once for the Navy and later as a soldier for hire. After suffering an injury the last time, Sandy promised his wife to find safer work. “When Remote Medical was looking for instructors a short time later, I jumped at the chance and have never looked back.â€
When he isn’t teaching or working as a remote-site paramedic, Sandy is home on his farm. He enjoys shooting, hiking, boating, diving, and caving.
Check out Sandy and the rest of the Remote Medical staff on our staff page. Also, be sure to check out the new pictures on our facebook page, courtesy of Sandy!.
