By Dani Messick
Goshen News
GOSHEN, Ind. — A Goshen Fire Department EMS Captain was honored at the state level for his work in emergency services earlier this month.
Goshen Fire Department EMS Captain Kit Castetter was named Indiana EMS Association Paramedic of the Year during the Indiana EMS Association’s Golden Siren Banquet on May 18.
With 34 years on the job, he was nominated by Goshen Assistant Chief of EMS Shane McKerchie.
Castetter said it was a shock for him.
“I’m honored, pretty humbled,” Castetter said. “There’s a lot of deserving people that are working hard.”
Castetter’s EMT career began in 1987 as a volunteer for Topeka, but he wanted more. He went to medic school and then worked at LaGrange for a year before joining Goshen’s team.
“I did my clinical ride time for Goshen’s paramedic class here at the fire department,” he recalled.
After his year at Lagrange, the Goshen Fire Department was looking for paramedics so he tested in and got the job.
“This is a good place to work,” he said. “This was close. It was a paid position. The city is great to work for. As far as being a paramedic, we get a nice mix of time on the fire truck and also time on the ambulance so that’s important and kind of helps spread the work, little variety, little routine. It’s just been a good life.”
Today, Castetter also does education and oversees training.
“We do a lot for the number of people that we have,” he said. “And that makes it interesting because we get a lot of exposure to other disciplines. We’ve got people doing hazmat, river rescue, fire fighting, there’s a whole plethora of things that are available to do here. People have different interests and fill different roles and mine’s EMS.”
In fact, much of Castetter’s time outside the department is also comprised of EMS work. He’s a Medflight nurse and a NICU nurse for Beacon Ground Transport. He got his nursing degree in 1996 and worked in the ER at Goshen Health for 20 years but gave up for the opportunity to become a flight nurse.
The rest of his time is spent with his wife, three kids, two stepdaughters, and 11 grandkids.
“I’m doing what I want to do and a drive as much pleasure out of it now as I did 30 years ago when I started,” Castetter said. “I like going on ambulance calls.”
To learn more about the Indiana EMS Association, visit them at iea18.wildapricot.org.
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