Steve Gohman, for the last 22 years, has been a member of the Kimball fire and rescue team. Looking back, the one thing this service has brought him is an awareness of how close to home this duty can be. “When the pager goes off, you never know who you’re going to see. It could be a neighbor or a neighbor’s kid,” Gohman said. “When you walk in the door and the victim calls you by your first name, you realize this is a very personal job.” Gohman is among 750,000 Emergency and Medical Services (EMS) providers nationwide who provide a vital public service and a system of care for victims of sudden illness or injury. The week of May 16-22 has been chosen by the Stearns County EMS Task Force to honor men and women like Gohman for providing life-saving care 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for their respective communities. This year’s theme for EMS week is “EMS: There when you need us.” For the most part, Gohman feels that EMS providers are appreciated – even more so after 9/11. He does, however, feel that there is still a lack of knowledge of what EMS providers go through. “People don’t realize what we do, our training, the calls we get, and the things we see,” Gohman said. “A quality that is needed to do this is to be a caring person who is willing to make sacrifices for others and give up free time.” Tom Ehlinger, Kimball Fire Chief, believes that Gohman’s exceptional leadership skills have been his greatest asset in being an EMS provider. “Steve is a leader on our department. He has been a firefighter, a captain and then a chief, and now back to a firefighter,” Ehlinger said. “I’ve been on the department for 17 years and learned a lot from him.” Ehlinger recalls a specific emergency that both he and Gohman responded to eight years ago. In that incident, they received a call about two boys who had died from carbon monoxide poisoning. “I admired it, just the way he handled himself coming to a situation where there are two dead children,” Ehlinger said. “People should appreciate what he does for the community.” One of the crucial elements in being an EMS provider is knowing that you may end up risking your own life in order to save another. Gohman is keenly aware of this risk; his wife, also an EMS provider, died in a tragic accident 17 years ago. Gohman’s wife Katie had been driving home from St. Cloud when she came across a car accident and stopped to provide aid for the victims. As she was kneeling to help, another vehicle careened into the car she was next to. “She flew across the road, hit her head and never woke up,” Gohman said. “It was always in the back of our minds of how dangerous this job is, but this brought the message home.” Gohman feels that one of the reasons Katie lost her life while on duty is because people don’t take extra precaution when they come upon the scene of an accident while driving. People in general, he said, are so preoccupied and in a rush that they rarely slow down when they see an accident on the road. His wife’s tragic accident did not curb Gohman’s dedication to being an EMS provider. He credits living in a small community as one of the main factors that helped him get through his loss.. “If anything, my wife’s accident increased my respect for this profession, and a small community is where everybody knows what everybody is doing. But in an instance like this, it showed how caring a community can be,” Gohman said. “The outpouring of care and help was unbelievable to me after my wife’s death.” After being an EMS provider for more than two decades, Gohman will continue providing his services to the community and doesn’t plan on stopping anytime too soon. “I’m undecided, but I think I’ll do this until I stop enjoying it,” Gohman said.
