Hanson Receives International Attention
Posted on 1/26/2012
Derek Hanson, director of St. Alexius’ Safety, Security & Emergency Management |
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Derek Hanson, director of St. Alexius’ Safety, Security & Emergency Management, received a special appreciation award in Las Vegas during the National Association of EMTs conference. He was recognized by the International PHTLS (Prehospital Trauma Life Support) organization for his many years of dedicated service to the program.
Derek brought the program into North Dakota 16 years ago. He has served as the state coordinator for the program since that time, until he recently resigned in June of 2011.
In 1999, Derek was promoted to the International PHTLS Executive Council, which had introduced PHTLS into 32 nations by this time. Derek had great opportunities traveling internationally to several countries. The first time he spoke at a conference in South America to more than 1,000 physician and nurse participants, he was greeted by Department of Defense officials who wanted to visit with him in private to learn more about his trauma system presentation and to review his presentation outline for content and accuracy.
Derek has helped author portions of the fifth edition PHTLS textbook and student manual, which is sold in many different languages. He also was granted one of three national positions with PHTLS as the U.S. Region 3 Director, covering 15 states in the western U.S. PHTLS is credentialed by the American Academy of Surgeons (ACS), just as the ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support) program is. The ATLS program is designed for physicians and is one of the sponsored programs taught at St. Alexius. Derek has been involved in EMS, Firefighting and Emergency Services for the past 34 years.