When EMS Pioneers Pass On

You may have noticed it yourself – perhaps more so each year as you also get older – but when the pioneers and heroes that inspired your career pass on, it seems like a portion of the important history upon which you built your career and identity has also passed away.  When that hardcore pioneer and hero is one of your best friends, it feels all the more destabilizing.

I received word Saturday that PK Williams passed away quietly at home — as a warrior, paramedic, and nurse would wish.

As an EMS pioneer, PK (“my parents were too poor to afford a real name”) came back from his days as a US Army Special Forces “Green Beret” combat medic with a determination to bring the rapid evac and trauma care from the battlefields of Vietnam to the streets,highways, and hospitals of the US.  EMS was not invented yet, and most ambulance care in the US was provided by undertakers. He became a Texas state and nationally registered EMT, the first paramedic instructor in Texas, an RN, and the 2^nd President of the Texas EMT Association.  From there he joined the board of the National Association of EMTs and served on EMS and government groups that helped create many of the concepts and standards of EMS. In later years he taught in my EMTALA educational programs and assisted me with plans of correction for EMTALA citations at various hospitals across the country.

Along the line, he developed and sold packs and load systems for combat forces and EMS personnel, including the “PK pack” and a ballistic vest model that was famously used by Arnold Schwartzenegger in the movie “Commando”, while saving lives as a nurse in the country’s largest emergency department at Parkland Hospital.  He later served as an ED nurse and nursing administration at other facilities and as a nursing instructor.  At one time in his career he was certified to provide emergency care to the President of the United States.

As a warrior, PK fought in Vietnam and in many countries that the US did not admit, including one operation in which he was seriously wounded but made it out days later with another wounded man under his care.  Following his military career, he “worked on the side” with government security organizations through the Panama and First Gulf War actions.  All of that came at a price, however.  Ultimately, he contracted leukemia, and although cured, incurred heart damage and strokes. He did not complain about the price and took pride in every day that he surprised his physicians at the V.A. by being alive – he was always Special Forces until his death.  (He would concede his wife Janet had a lot to do with his ability to keep going).

PK Williams was a hardcore EMS pioneer, an American warrior, and my fiend of 40 years. He made a difference and now passes on the responsibilities to those who come after.  Hopefully they meet the same standard.