Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Bella Vistan has worked, taught in several nations
Blacke has been EMT since 1979
Bella Vista resident Ed Blacke has been a nationally registered EMT since 1979 and had a long and varied career since.
Blacke said he was registered at the state level even earlier, getting his Ohio certification in 1974.
“I was working construction at that time and I saw a need in the field to have someone to provide immediate care in the field,” he said.
Workers could get hurt and need help immediately when an ambulance might not be particularly close, he explained.
Blacke said he also worked with the volunteer fire department at the time and he’s since received multiple fire certifications, all the way up to chief officer level.
He’s also certified as a safety engineer and has a degree in criminology, he said.
A copy of his resume lists numerous qualifications across several fields, including emergency medicine, fire and construction, as well as work experience in the United States and abroad.
While they sound diverse, these qualifications did come together on some jobs, including his first overseas job in Egypt which involved fire, emergency response, security and safety, he said.
He also served in the United States Navy, where he was trained in parachuting and as a survival man. He taught escape and evasion and survival in addition to maintaining survival equipment, he said.
While he’s done a wide variety of work, Blacke added his favorite has always been teaching.
At one point, he said, he was hired to train 60 people in Cairo, Egypt, who he got to first responder level and trained as firefighters.
“I learned so much about them, I learned so much about their culture,” he said. “I got a lot out of it, I really enjoyed it.”
Blacke said he’s also taught in Chad, Russia, and the Middle East, in addition to the United States.
He was living in Arizona when his career started to slow somewhat.
“Things were winding down for me and I was looking for somewhere to retire,” he said.
A safe, quiet, stable place with good medical services was the ask and Bella Vista ended up being the answer for him and his wife, Consuela Blacke, he explained.
“We came here with the intent to retire, if you will, and I still kept jumping around and doing this and doing that,” he said, noting he’s stopped looking for longer-term jobs after 60, though he was still getting the odd job into his 80s until he decided to quit and more properly retire last month.
The award from the national registry was a nice gesture and well-timed, he said, but the odd note or even just words of appreciation from a patient or family member means a great deal more, he added.
“It’s nice to know that the effort you made, somebody saw it and somebody said thank you,” he said.