We were lucky to catch up with Katie Contreras recently and have shared our conversation below.

Katie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

The last 19 years have been a ride to say the least; from Schlitterbahn and Superguard, to EMT school and fire academy, then becoming a paramedic and spending countless hours in an ambulance… Each step brought me a little bit closer to the person I am today. These days I usually call myself an educator before anything else, but I am also a small business owner and paramedic, though the latter titles are directly tied into the former.

Over the course of my career I developed a love for teaching, which would ultimately lead me to people who would challenge me to grow and to better myself. In May 2019, I met a person who asked me the question which would ultimately lead to the start up of my business, Come And Take It CPR & Safety, LLC. I had been teaching a multitude of classes, throughout the U.S., for a variety of people & agencies; while still working on the ambulance and at the college. Steve asked me, “why do you work for anybody? The work you are doing, your social media presence, it’s being seen – so why aren’t you working for yourself?” After that meeting in Charlotte, I spent the next month making a business plan along with building up my classroom and training supplies, and in July 2019 I registered my business with the State of Texas.

Since then I have been teaching at the college full-time, with the occasional shift on the ambulance, but a large part of my planner-life is building my business within the community and hosting 4-6 public classes a month. In the interest of bettering myself and my business, I completed my MBA in 2021 and have recently begun my Doctorate. I speak to my students often on work-life balance, but that is not something I excel at myself as I prefer to stay busy – I also enjoy professional speaking at public safety conferences, and I absolutely love seeing my daughter’s face light up on the jiu jitsu mat!

Katie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am originally from Copperas Cove, TX, but have lived in the San Marcos/Lockhart area for the last 22 years, so I usually just tell people I’m from San Marcos. My story is centered in service, so we can just jump to that: I got into EMS by way of Schlitterbahn (I think Schlitterbahn is a local teen-job requirement), where I competed on the TopDawg (lifeguard competition team), which I mention purely because my coach was actually the person who recommended I consider EMT (he was a paramedic). I completed EMT by the end of that season, then went through fire academy and right into paramedic school after that… And here we are today. Sort of.

I have been a Paramedic for 19 years with San Marcos Hays County EMS, where I currently work part-time. In the fall of 2018 I accepted a position as Associate Professor at ACC in the EMS Professions Program, and that is truly my happy place (teaching). Over the last four years, I have also been doing a lot of conference presentations, primarily focusing on bleeding control, inclusive care (in EMS), and building better instructors (instructor development). In my free-ish time, I also teach with the ALERRT Center and, as I said earlier, am working to grow my business, Come And Take It CPR & Safety Training, LLC.

For me, “here” is where I am with my teaching and my business, which is still essentially teaching. As a paramedic, you are always teaching, whether it be providing patient education, working with new employees, or even students during their clinicals. I was fortunate to be able to start with ACC while working EMS, so while I am now full-time staff, I had been with them for 15 years as Adjunct Faculty; that has helped to make the transition nice, plus I love all of my coworkers and the work they do (I wish someone had told me earlier how important that really is). I can’t understate the importance of knowing you are supported and cared about where you work. I have a really hard time telling people “no” when asked for help, and as a result of that I am involved in a lot of different projects and activities, my two favorites being The Sights and Sound of Christmas in San Marcos and The Lions Club of San Marcos.

All of my projects and teaching have allowed me to work with some amazing training companies and agencies across the nation and really helped me build my own small business. Come and Take It CPR & Safety Training, LLC primarily enables me to teach AHA classes (BLS, ACLS, PALS), but also Stop The Bleed and First Care Provider courses (which are very important to me). Honestly, I could talk about STB for longer than we have right now, I won’t subject you to that today, but I will say — 100% visit my social media to set up a class. It’s a great class and so important.

My business currently provides American Heart Association classes to healthcare professionals and the general public. I also regularly hold Stop The Bleed/First Care Provider courses. I have a home classroom in Lockhart but also teach classes onsite upon request (no travel charge), I often travel throughout the central Texas area for classes.

I would say Stop The Bleed is probably what I am best known for locally. Like I said earlier, it is one of my favorite classes, and since its public release in 2018, I have taught 198 classes and nearly 4,000 students. I share that because I predominately do the classes on my own, my training equipment being self-purchased or donated (I guess that would qualify as a challenge/obstacle lol). I’ve actually provided this course at multiple conferences across the US, but also am more than willing to meet 1-on-1 to share this information because it’s just that important to me. I offer the STB class free of charge or “donation only” simply so that no one can say cost is a barrier; if you give me some people and some time, I am going to teach them how they can save lives. I should note that I’m able to provide that class free because of my other paid classes, which are AHA compliant in time/testing (two-year certifications) and can be found on my website: comeandtakeitcpr.com.

In between all my different activities and teaching, I’ve been able to have multiple experiences that I probably wouldn’t have had otherwise, and been exposed to people I believe are amazing educators. That’s important to me, and really for me, because it changed the focus in my career and pushed me to be better. I found that while I love working in EMS and being on an ambulance, the way that I best reach my students is in the classroom. Part of that is because it brings out a different level of passion in me for what we do in EMS, but it also challenges me to stay on top of current medicine and continue my own education.

There are multiple people in my life who ask, “what’s next,” “what are we learning today,” and that is a driving force for me now — we should always strive to have friends that make us better (in our careers and in life). I love the saying, “If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room,” and that’s what I look for every time I go into a classroom — to find the student or instructor who will teach or show me something new.

I love teaching Stop The Bleed to the general public because it’s a fun class, but it’s also great to see the wheels moving and when something just clicks for those students. When it’s become “real” and they understand that they could be the one helping to save a life. That’s also why it’s so important for students to get to perform the hands-on skills (practicing with injury assessment, tourniquets, wound packing, maintaining an airway, and how to move patients), it’s not all as intuitive as it seems. The only downside (for me) is that I have so much in my head that I want to share that I have to figure out how to choose what is useful and relevant for each student and not drown them in information. Info overload is a real thing and can be detrimental to your students.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

EMS and education have both provided some excellent opportunities to be humbled and reflect. My education growing up was pretty black and white, meaning the teacher was generally right and there wasn’t much room to question them. That is not to say I didn’t question them, but it did not often turn out in my favor. When I started teaching I shared many of those same mannerisms: “do it the way you’re told, follow the instructions, this is what I expect you to follow,” etc. Essentially, creating copies of myself, if only in their mannerism and knowledge of protocols.

After a meeting regarding a trainee who was not meeting my expectations, my training supervisor asked, “is he not meeting credentialing expectations or is he just not doing it in the way you want?” That was incredibly grounding for me, and after taking time to reflect on the question, it came down to this being a “me” problem. I have since met many instructors who still teach in that same black and white manner, but I now find myself hanging out in the grey. I actively work on listening more and talking less, moving forward with the understanding that medicine (and student needs) are ever changing – it’s not so much black and white and we can all learn from each other.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Honestly, you have to care about other people. That seems easy or trite, but it is vital for career longevity and happiness for you to actually care about the people whose education or healthcare you have been entrusted with. I have long said that I can teach a person any hands-on skill because those eventually become rote memorization; I cannot teach someone to be a good person or how to have a servant’s heart, it is either in you, or it’s not. In education, medicine, and business ownership you are taking care of customers (who are not always right, by the way), and because each field has its ups and downs, it is also important to have a support system and hobbies or activities separate from your work.

Contact Info:

• Website: ComeAndTakeItCPR.com
•  Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/comeandtakeitcpr/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ComeAndTakeItCPR
• Other: Text: 512-668-9380