Loralee Olejnik is the EMT Community Education Specialist for Falck San Diego, where her passions for EMS, education, communication, and public health come together in a career dedicated to empowering others. Over more than 20 years, Loralee has taught thousands of people how to prevent, recognize, and respond to emergencies, with a particular commitment to ensuring lifesaving education reaches communities that have historically faced barriers to accessing it.

Today, Loralee helps lead an extensive community education program supporting approximately 150 outreach events annually. She provides Hands-Only CPR and Stop the Bleed instruction, blood pressure screenings, emergency preparedness education, and other public safety programming throughout the San Diego region. Her warmth, patience, and ability to connect with people from all backgrounds have made her a trusted community partner and an exceptional ambassador for EMS.

Accessibility is central to Loralee’s work. Most recently, she has led an “Accessible CPR” program designed to provide people with disabilities CPR training in a supportive environment that accommodates their individual needs. She has also developed partnerships with nonprofits, community and senior centers, Black Infant Health programs, and organizations providing EMS career training to young people overcoming barriers to employment.

Loralee’s impact on community preparedness began well before her current role. A longtime CPR instructor, she spent approximately a decade with the regional San Diego Project Heart Beat program, helping expand access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and lifesaving training. Her work contributed to placing AEDs with San Diego Police Department officers, in public schools, and at numerous locations throughout the community.

Her ability to build partnerships has brought together local government, fire and public safety agencies, healthcare systems, schools, nonprofit organizations, and community groups. Her collaborators have included the City and County of San Diego, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, San Diego Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Scripps Health, UC San Diego Health, Sharp HealthCare, Rady Children’s Health Safe Kids, and Fourth District Seniors Resource Center.

Loralee’s commitment to education extends throughout the EMS profession. She regularly contributes to EMS publications, helped with the U.S. release of the children’s book What Paramedics and EMTs Do, speaks at conferences, and serves on the committee for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Girls Empowerment Camp, which introduces teens to careers in public safety. Within Falck, she has also developed recognition programs celebrating field deliveries and CPR saves, helping ensure EMS professionals receive recognition for their lifesaving work.

Through two decades of education, advocacy, partnership, and service, Loralee has worked to make lifesaving knowledge more accessible to everyone. She does more than educate communities; she gives people the confidence and skills to help one another when it matters most. Falck San Diego is proud to recognize Loralee Olejnik as a Star of Life.