Spotlighting Becca Satathite, Central Emergency Services firefighter and paramedic

by Suzie Kendrick, Kenai Peninsula College  |   

CES firefighter and paramedic Becca Satathite (left) and Kenai Fire Department engineer and EMT III Sam Satathite team up on a call to which both departments responded.
CES firefighter and paramedic Becca Satathite (left) and Kenai Fire Department engineer and EMT III Sam Satathite team up on a call to which both departments responded. (Photo provided by Becca Satathite)

Students “find their place” at KPC for different reasons. For Becca Satathite, finding a career in which no two days would play out exactly the same way was the goal.

“Even at her young age, she rose to the occasion, and she wouldn’t let anything get in the way of her successfully completing the coursework,” said Paul Perry, KRC assistant professor of paramedic technology.

“I think her brother, a Kenai firefighter and emergency medical technician III, was an inspiration for her,” Perry continued. “She could lean on him occasionally, but Becca is Alaska strong. She will be successful in her career and will rise accordingly in the ranks.”

“College was always going to be an option for me, no matter what,” said Satathite. “Like many other kids out of high school, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to pursue as a career. It wasn’t until halfway through my second semester that I knew I wanted to become a paramedic. Medicine was also in my sight glass, but what kind of medicine I didn’t know.”

Once she made her decision, she began to shine. “Participating in the KPC paramedic program was a great learning experience academically and personally,” she said. “The opportunities the program provided allowed me to grow and excel as a student and person. This program required dedication and devotion that I didn’t know I had, but in the end was well worth it.”

The experience has shaped her beyond her paramedic training. “With most training scenarios versus real life, there are commonalities and differences,” she said. “The program prepared me for some, but not all, obstacles that I’ve encountered in the short time I’ve been working as a medic. My life has changed immensely from three years ago as a student. Every day is different. Each day brings new challenges and opportunities. Opportunities I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t gone through the paramedic program. I couldn’t ask for a better job and community to work in.”

Creative Commons License "Spotlighting Becca Satathite, Central Emergency Services firefighter and paramedic" is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.