Joseph Allen GrafftJoseph Allen Grafft, MS, NREMT Joe Grafft's interest and eventual career as an EMS provider and educator began with his father Charlie Grafft, a police chief and later county sheriff. Despite having little and living in a boxcar without running waterthe first 12 years of Joe's life, his father modeled volunteerism. In 1959 at the age of 12, Joe began taking first aid and rescue classes from his father and became part of a junior rescue squad. Instilled in him was the importance of care and concern for the patient. His father's words of wisdom still resound after all these years, Have a reason for what you do and treat everyone with respect and dignity! How true these words are today! In 1965, Mr. Grafft began working for an ambulance service while attending college. In 1968, he became a CPR instructor with the Minnesota Rescue and First Aid Association and a member of the Minnesota Para-Rescue team. He became a Nationally Registered EMT in 1974 and shortly thereafter became a vocationally licensed EMS instructor and a Regional Affiliate Faculty and National BLS Faculty for the AHA. Receiving a bachelor's degree and later a master's degree in health education and EMS management, Joe began his professional teaching career in the high school setting while continuing to work in the ambulance service and as an athletic trainer. Joe's passion for the youth in EMS was demonstrated when he started a high school program in 1976, called Opportunities in Emergency Care (OEC). This program trained high school students to become EMT's and was the first such program in a high school in the nation. The high school had two ambulances staffed by paramedics and EMT's who mentored the students. The National Registry of EMT's awarded the OEC Program with the outstanding EMT training site in 1980. The ambulances made 5,000 runs per year. These same students won ten consecutive World Championships in EMS with the International Rescue and Emergency Care Association. The OEC program is still in existence and has expanded to several other high schools. Mr. Grafft became the EMS director in 1988 for a hospital paramedic system. In 1990, he became the first EMS manager for the Minnesota State Board of Vocational Education-Fire Center, later becoming the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, Fire/EMS/Safety Center, Chancellor's Office. In this position as an EMS manager, he supervised and provided leadership for 53 campuses. Grafft is past president of the National Association of EMS Educators (NAEMSE), Inter-national Rescue and Emergency Care Association (IRECA), and The Minnesota Ambulance Association (MAA), past chair of the AHA-ECC committee in Minnesota, past secretary of Advocates EMS, served on the NREMT Board of Directors for 13 years. He authored Issues in Spinal Care (Laerdal), EMS in a Secured Facility, presented at several conferences, and has written several articles for EMS journals. Mr. Grafft has been a Community Faculty from 1995-2015 at Metropolitan State University, School of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. He has coordinated training and education for numerous EMS federal, state and local agencies in CPR, basic and advanced EMS and wilderness medicine. Mr. Grafft continues to be a National Registered EMT and is a certified Level One & Two NAEMSE Instructor. He continues to coordinate three high schools EMR and EMT programs, and with Kathy provides EMS training through their company: Customized Safety Training, LLC. Read More Read Less