Photo By Andrew Smith | Texas Army National Guard Colonel Peter Coldwell, the State Surgeon of the Texas...... read more read more
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Over the past forty years, Colonel Peter Coldwell has tallied an impressive list of achievements, from graduating medical school to saving a stranger from a heart attack while visiting family in England, to joining the high IQ society Mensa. However, perhaps most impressive of all is that he has accomplished all of this while working weekends as an officer in the Texas National Guard, culminating in his most recent assignment as the Texas State Surgeon.
In 1978, Coldwell and his family immigrated to the United States from England when he was 17 years old. After taking an American history class to complete his requisite curriculum, he graduated high school. Coldwell then enlisted in the Army in 1980, as he was inspired by John Wayne movies he had seen growing up.
“I came in as a medic, it was not my first choice… it was my third choice, but I really enjoyed it. While completing my three year enlistment I paid into the college program and started at California State in San Bernardino majoring in biology, and then I went to Toledo Ohio and got a master’s degree in biology while acting as an assistant teacher. I was then accepted to medical school.”
After completing his education, Coldwell reentered active service as a physician and was assigned to Selfridge Air National Guard, as the only active duty physician in the state of Michigan.
While Coldwell is now an accomplished leader, he says he owes a lot of his success to mentors he met early on in his military career:
“One of the first people I met was then Major Dennis Fringeli, I was his driver so we worked together a lot. He was the kind of person who has high expectations, but he would never ask you to do something he would not do himself. I became a more well-rounded Soldier from watching him. I learned a lot from him, and when we parted ways he wanted my parents’ address. He ultimately sent them a very nice letter in which he described how hard working I was and he included his hope that his son would grow up to be like me. That meant a lot to me and my parents.”
As an emergency room trauma surgeon, Coldwell was able to balance his time between working scheduled shifts at his civilian job and drilling with the National Guard over the weekend and during non-shift days.
In 2015, Coldwell put his medical skills to use while on vacation in the town of Denby Dale, England. While helping set up for a local fundraiser, Coldwell recognized the symptoms of a heart attack in local man named Richard Hobson and dialed “999” (the United Kingdom’s emergency number). An ambulance arrived in time with Coldwell providing aid. The paramedics were able to resuscitate Hobson as he entered cardiac arrest. In a great twist of fate, the fundraiser both men were helping with was collecting donations to have an AED installed at the local cricket club.
The local paper, the Yorkshire Examiner, reported on the story writing: “It was a sheer fluke that Peter was there. He was visiting a cousin in Denby Dale and she brought him down to the cricket club to help prepare for our annual community bonfire.”
From his hospital bed Hobson said: “I never thought I’d become an extreme fundraiser.”
In recent months, Coldwell has been involved in combatting the spread of COVID-19, being activated full time as the Texas Guard’s State Surgeon. One of his biggest achievements was establishing the medical isolation support facility on Camp Swift, in Bastrop, Texas.
“The logic was that we needed a place we could take potentially sick people quickly that was close to other guard facilities, fortunately is has yet to be used.” He also gave guidance to units that took part in the nursing home decontamination efforts across the state: “I think the state and the country did a good job of slowing the spread of COVID.”
When asked about what advice he would give young Soldiers that may want to follow in his path Coldwell responded: “Don’t follow a path like me, mine was like a bottle on the ocean getting washed about by waves. I would tell people to maintain a focus and seek out professional military education and development.”
| Date Taken: | 06.18.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 06.18.2020 10:51 |
| Story ID: | 372364 |
| Location: | AUSTIN, TX, US |
| Hometown: | DENBY DALE, KIR, GB |
| Web Views: | 782 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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