Catherine began her career in Emergency Services in 1985 as an EMT and quickly advanced to an instructor in 1986. She received her RN degree from Brandywine School of Nursing, B.S. in EMS Administration from Hahnemann University, and M.Ed. in Instructional Systems, Training Design and Development from Penn State University in December 1999. Catherine is currently certified as a Prehospital Registered Nurse (the Pennsylvania equivalent to a Nurse Paramedic) and one of only 17 EMS Instructor Trainers recognized in Pennsylvania.
From 2006 until January 2011, Catherine managed the EMT training program at Good Fellowship EMS Training Institute in West Chester, PA. Under her direction, the quality of the EMTs graduated by the institute improved significantly, obtaining pass rates of 100% and average test scores of 83.5% on state certification examinations.
Catherine has served as an EMT Instructor and Instructor Trainer, Course Coordinator, State Fire Academy Instructor, American Heart Association CPR/First Aid Instructor Trainer, Chester County Regional EMS Training Coordinator, and Director of Training for Chester County Department of Emergency Services. As Director of Training, she was responsible for all aspects of all EMS, Community, Fire and Hazardous Materials training as well as 9-1-1 Public Information programs.
She is an accomplished author, having written over 25 EMT and Paramedic textbooks, workbooks and instructor resources. Her latest textbook, Teaching EMS, was published by Mosby/Elsevier, and was one of the first textbooks devoted entirely to teaching new instructors how to effectively teach EMS providers.
She is certified as PHRN, CPR/First Aid Instructor, and EMT Instructor Trainer. She’s also certified in EVOC, Pediatric Advanced Life Support, Radiologic Emergencies, Incident Command Systems, and more. In her spare time, she serves on community boards, including the Downingtown Middle School Music Parents Association and local scouting organizations.