Whiz Kid: Kensington Teen Heads Fire Dept. First-Aid Unit

Every week, Kensington Patch will feature a local kid who has done something remarkable, whether at school, church or in the neighborhood. We want to hear about these amazing children and teens, and we will select one each week as the Kensington Patch Whiz Kid.

This week's Whiz Kid is Kensington's Gabe Gan, a Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School junior who is currently captain of a youth First-Aid Unit headquartered at the local volunteer fire department.

• Kensington Volunteer Fire Department First-Aid Unit
  
• Accomplishment: The first-aid unit, which is organized as a Boy Scouts of America "Explorer Post" for youth ages 14 to 21 and operates out of the Kensington station, staffs public events, including the annual , upon request. It has about 30 members, each of whom has undergone about 80 hours of training in providing emergency medical services, including CPR, administering oxygen and setting injuries with splints. The youths provide care under the supervision of adult paramedics and doctors. Gan joined as a high school freshman and last July began a one-year term as captain of the squad, which  means he's in charge of scheduling crews to work events, record-keeping and meetings.
• Key to Awesomeness: Members of the unit provide real medical care. In 2008, at an inaugural event downtown, they helped revive a man who had no pulse with an automated external defibrillator, a portable electronic device used to shock the heart back into establishing a normal rhythm. Gan said his unit is lucky to be just outside of Washington, D.C., because they have a chance to staff major events like presidential inaugurations and the annual cherry blossom festival. "I love it," said Gan, who is also a B-CC swimmer and aspires to become an emergency physician. "You get to do things no other teenager gets to do."

Nominate your whiz kid by e-mailing jesseka@patch.com.