My name is Kieran. I am the founder and program director here at Coast Medical Training. Coast has been providing top-notch professional responder and Canadian Red Cross wilderness first aid courses since 2014.
In that time, our quirky band of professional instructors have certified thousands of students, and built a community of like-minded first aid and medical response enthusiasts that, quite honestly, is so much more than I ever imagined when I started this journey.
This is our history. I hope you become part of it.
Kieran Hartle,
Coast Medical Training
Coast Wilderness Medical Training
In 2014, we offered our first courses – the 20-hour Red Cross Remote First Aid and… nothing else. Class sizes sometimes went as high as 4 to 6 people, and were held in park spaces for which we sometimes held a permit. Coast’s home base was a 300 square foot space that was also known as “Kieran’s Living Room,” so wet and wild weekends were often followed by damp and soggy furniture, with wet tarps and sleeping bags draped for drying over all available objects.
“This is the dream,” I said to myself, as I fell asleep in the bed I shared with three CPR manikins and a cat.
Wilderness First Responder… and a Garage!
By 2018, things were changing! We were still offering 20 courses, and had long ago added the 40 hour Wilderness First Aid. Along with Coast’s other instructors – Mark, Quinn and Cole – we had trained hundreds of people, and were gaining quite a lovely reputation in the wilderness first aid training space!
However, now it was time to get serious. The 80 hour Wilderness First Responder course is professional level training, and I wanted to make sure that I got it right. I travelled to Halifax, where I trained with the legendary Blair Doyle of Adventure Safety Atlantic, and learned two things:
We delivered our first Wilderness First Responder program in summer 2018, and socks were, indeed, knocked off!
I also moved, and now had a garage for our expanding set of soggy gear! The house was less humid, previously thriving tropical houseplants did poorly – but the bed was mannikin free! Except for the cat…
SPACE!!!
In 2019, Coast finally rented its own space! This Vancouver-sized unit tripled as classroom, gear and administration space. It was… not enough. But better! My garage was now free to build a canoe, as I had always dreamed. I didn’t build a canoe, but I could have, if I had really wanted to.
Is it possible that many hours were spent alone in that classroom playing computer games and trying to figure out what the heck I was doing?
Yes. Yes, it is.
Professional Responder Courses – and Support!
All of Coast’s instructors were paramedics working for the British Columbia Emergency Health Services, and there had long been a demand from our students for professional training that would help them to access the career about which we had long been raving.
Finally, in January 2020, I completed the training and certification to deliver a Red Cross Emergency Medical Responder course, and we purchased and invested in the professional equipment required to deliver that course effectively. Things were looking up.
“Nothing can stop us now,” I thought to myself…
… anyway, then Covid shut everything down, and I stopped sleeping at night. The cat now had the bed to herself.
However, when BC reopened in January, we were off like a rocket, and soon began building the same quality community among our professional responder students as we had among our wilderness students. It was an interesting time, because not only did Covid necessitate certain adaptations and supports, but professional responder students – many of whom were looking for new careers in the midst of a pandemic – also needed a very different type of support than we were used to giving.
I am proud to say that our instructors and office staff really stepped up, and helped us to develop over-the-top student support that has been part of Coast’s identity and reputation ever since.
Oh – and Ivan and Erin joined the team, helping to organize and run Coast behind the scenes – it was no longer just me and my cat! Erin has since went on to bigger and better things, while Ivan continues to help and support Coast in truly irreplaceable ways.
Squamish… and Beyond!
Actually, just Squamish. Starting in 2021, Coast acquired space in beautiful Squamish BC, in the shadow of the Chief.
So many of our students had been forced to travel the sea-to-sky and brave Vancouver traffic to take part in our courses – now we had finally come to them! Remote First Aid, Wilderness First Aid, Wilderness First Responder, Emergency Medical Responder… and a parking lot shared with a lovely pub.
Squamish had it all!
It was also time to update our name, and Coast Medical Training was born! The rebranding has been… haphazard.
Our Own Program – And More Space!
I’m rambling. Let’s keep it short, or we’ll never get to 2025!
In 2023, Coast submitted its own EMR program, under our own medical direction, to the Emergency Medical Assistants Licensing Board (EMALB) for consideration. With that approval, we were finally able to run a nimble program that responded quickly to changes in the pre-hospital medical landscape in British Columbia. This may not seem like a big change, but it allowed us to offer instruction that was more directly relevant to what our students would expect in licensing exams, and the job they are preparing for.
We also moved to a much bigger space. Not big by normal standards, but enormous by Vancouver standards! Multiple rooms! Multiple doors! In-suite water! Dear God, you cannot imagine the luxury!
The Hits Keep Coming!
As of 2025, Coast has grown into a well-known and well-loved training institution. I cannot express the pride – and surprise! – I feel as I look at the communities we have built, the emergencies our alumni have managed, and the top quality careers we have launched. I never imagined that we would have so many of our very best students returned as instructors, or that there would be such an incredible support team behind them.
Of course, the challenge has been keeping the student experience our top priority as we’ve grown, but I am just so happy to report that this remains the central concern of every person involved with Coast to this day.
A single tear, rolls down my cheek.
Thank you again for your interest in Coast. We have come a long way, but it also feels like we are just getting started!
I hope you join us for what comes next.
Kieran Hartle,
Program Director,
Coast Medical Training.
