Nick Hogan found his calling as a paramedic after assisting victims of a deadly accident as a Good Samaritan.
By Maureen Gilmer, Riley Children’s Health senior writer, mgilmer1@iuhealth.org
It was about 15 years ago when Nick Hogan came across an accident late at night on State Road 52.
He might not have seen the overturned car on the side of the road but for a glimpse of a dazed person standing in the highway median.
He pulled over to see how he could help because there were not yet any emergency vehicles onsite. A language barrier prevented full communication, but Hogan knew enough to call 911, check pulses and render what aid he could until first responders arrived.
“At the time, I was not trained, but I did what I could the best that I could until help arrived,” he said. “Afterward I panicked a little, but I realized I did all this stuff before I freaked out.”
That incident was a turning point for Hogan, who had been working in childcare before deciding to pivot.
“I noticed my fight or flight instinct was always on the fight side. I wanted to step in and help people.”
Hogan went back to school, trained as an emergency medical technician and paramedic and joined Riley Hospital for Children in the Emergency Department in 2012.
He worked for more than a decade in the ED, first as a bedside medic, then in a coordinator role, before transitioning most recently to the position of injury prevention coordinator for Riley.
“I have a natural love for medicine,” said Hogan, who spent the bulk of his time assisting emergency physicians in what’s referred to as the fast-track area, caring for lower-acuity patients who can be moved more quickly through the ED, freeing up space and staff for more critical cases.
It’s an important job, said Dr. Cory D. Showalter, division chief and vice chair for pediatric emergency medicine at Riley.
“We greatly value the clinical skills, expertise and dedication our medics and EMTs bring to the Riley ED,” Dr. Showalter said. “They are core members of our team and contribute greatly to the care we provide to children every day.”
Hogan maintains his license as a paramedic, even as his job has taken him out of direct patient care. But his role as injury prevention coordinator allows him to combine his emergency training with community education.
“My favorite part of fast track was the education side,” Hogan said, “calming parents and patients and teaching them things to help them stay out of the ED. The injury prevention role gives me the chance to go out in the community and educate on the trauma side and in a lot of different scenarios.”
One of those regular teaching gigs is Stop the Bleed, a program that teaches bystanders how to control life-threatening bleeding before professional help arrives. Free, 90-minute classes are held monthly at Riley and are open to the community. The next class is June 17. Register by emailing nhogan@iuhealth.org or by calling 317-948-9431.
May is National Stop the Bleed Month, which fits in with National Trauma Awareness Month. The American College of Surgeons’ Stop the Bleed program supports National EMS (Emergency Medical Services) Week, which is this week, and May 22 marks National Stop the Bleed Day. More information is available at stopthebleed.org.
“I really enjoy teaching families, and the injury prevention role gives me a chance to go out in the community and educate and do demonstrations,” said Hogan, who works alongside epidemiologists at Riley to track the leading causes of illness and injuries and finds programming to address ways to prevent those injuries.
Vehicle crashes, falls, gunshot wounds, ATV/bicycle accidents, burns and child abuse are among the thousands of injuries treated in the Riley ED every year.
Hogan also looks at seasonal injuries (sledding accidents, near-drownings, fireworks mishaps) and takes injury prevention information into schools, farmers markets and other community health events.
Among the trainings he does in the community are car seat safety and helmet safety/concussion awareness clinics in association with the Child Passenger Safety Department.
“I have an outreach booth that I take to events, and I bring various car seats and our vehicle simulator seat,” he said. “This allows parents to visually see how a car seat should be installed and lets them practice at our booth. We also bring manikins to help parents understand proper harness and clip placement when buckling their child into a seat.”
In addition, Hogan is project coordinator for Project ADAM in Indiana, working with Riley cardiologist Dr. Adam Kean to train educators and community members in the use of automated external defibrillators to treat sudden cardiac arrest.
In Hogan’s current role, he appreciates being able to track patients from the ED through their treatment at Riley. He sees how important pre-hospital care (EMTs and paramedics who respond to emergencies) is for patients before they arrive in the ED.
“For EMS, once you drop them off, you probably don’t hear about them,” he said. “But the fact that Riley has an EMS liaison and trauma teams follow up with the hospital lets people have that connection, so they learn what happened to these patients. That’s important to EMS to be able to know how their care affected a patient and that they doing the right things to help the patients and help us continue to treat these patients.”
While preventing injuries is his goal, being prepared in the event of an accident is the next best thing, Hogan believes.
“They don’t call them accidents because you plan on them happening. That’s why we’re teaching you how to be prepared.”
So when an accident does happen, you’ll know what to do.
Riley has been verified as a Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center since 1993.
Photos by Mike Dickbernd, IU Health visual journalist, mdickbernd@iuhealth.org
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