By Shamus Toomey
The Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO — When paramedics rush into Lake Forest Hospital's emergency room, ER doctor Mike Peters knows where they're coming from.
When he's not patching up patients there, Peters is a firefighter-engineer in nearby Lake Bluff, a volunteer job he signed up for six years ago, after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Part doctor, part firefighter, some days he wears a lab coat, some days he wears boots. It's a mix that makes him more effective as a doctor, he said.
"It makes me a better emergency physician because I have some understanding of what was going on at the pre-hospital scene," said Peters, 42. "I think that's helped me a lot, and I think it gives me a rapport with the paramedics. At the very least, they can say, 'This guy has an idea of how hard our job is.' "
Lake Bluff has an all-volunteer fire department, and Peters said he's just one of many people helping out. There are nurses, lawyers, carpenters, computer technicians and more who pitch in. Lori Patsis, an ER nurse at Lake Forest Hospital, also volunteers.
When there's a house fire, a bad car crash, a brush fire or some other emergency, the pagers of the department's 40 volunteers go off, and they rush to the station. Peters, who keeps a pair of warm socks at his front door, makes it there in less than two minutes from his home.
His role is to drive the fire engine and ensure that everyone gets to the scene safely. Once there, he makes sure the engine pumps properly and all the equipment is prepped.
The department's paramedics handle the emergency care. If they ever need advice, Peters can offer it — but he's a firefighter first.
He has assisted the paramedics from time-to-time under the state's good samaritan rules, but, for legal reasons, not in any formal capacity.
As someone who knows the difficulties of lifesaving work, his respect and admiration for the paramedics — who call him "Doc" — is obvious.
"I've seen them providing lifesaving care in an unsafe environment, in a precarious position, in a confined space, doing the things we do in a hospital emergency department," he said. "It could be in a back of ambulance that's moving, on the side of a ravine, in a car that could blow up."
Just as his weekly firefighting training helps at the hospital, his ER work seems to help at his volunteer job, Lake Bluff Fire Chief David Graf said. "He's very calm and very well-collected on an emergency scene — I suppose a real important and significant thing if you're an emergency room doctor," he said.
Life at a firehouse includes plenty of razzing. Peters caught grief when he appeared in a Lake Forest Hospital print ad earlier this year. It ended up on the firehouse bulletin board. "That hospital ad — it's still on the board," the fire chief said.
Peters is single — only his dog, Hazel, knows the hours he puts in at the two jobs. Many other volunteers have families, Peters noted, so they sacrifice more. "I just looked at it as some way that I can be hands-on in the community," he said.
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