About
Local experts in the field!
Mitigating Risk. That’s what we do.
All of our staff has experience in managing risk. They come from careers in emergency medicine where they performed life-saving roles in hospital emergency departments, cruise ships, helicopters, courtrooms and other unique environments. They have cared for severely injured and gravely ill patients during their tenure and they routinely share their experiences through training courses and lectures in both public and private settings.
Our Team
Robin Schaefer
Chief Operations Officer
An Employee Benefits Specialist and Management Consultant, Robin spent the past 27 years organizing, developing, implementing and managing policy and procedures for a local benefits firm. She has consulted with many firms in both Marin and Sonoma developing strategy and implementing creative solutions for their employee benefit programs. Robin is excited to join the Survival CPR & First Aid team to help in the continued development of effective and efficient management policy and procedures.
Loving life and spending quality time with her family and friends, traveling are just a few of the ways she enjoys her time.
Jose Teruel
Instructor
Jose Teruel is a seasoned executive with over 25 years of hands-on experience in the art of running an office, running projects and making sure goals are achieved on time and inside budget. As Accounting Manager, as Payroll Manager, as Treasury Manager and as Controller he has been involved in a wide variety of local, regional and international projects & special assignments covering financial as well as operational efforts.
Jose is particularly adept in successfully leading multi-functional projects and teams. From an accounting team, to a manufacturing stream-lining review, to a project re-energizing top managers at Bacardi Bottling. His high energy and drive to achieve the goal always results in “getting it done”.
During his tenure at Bacardi, an international company and one of the world’s most valued brand names, he worked in multiple projects including a wide variety of system implementations, international banking initiatives, procedural audits, manufacturing waste reduction, quality control initiatives, management team building, and others. An EDI platform implementation proved a great benefit with an estimated 87% drop in processing costs. Multiple payroll system implementations resulted in progressive cash and operational cost savings in excess of 50% from original costs while considerably improving efficiency and data integrity. A proven coach and mentor with a 100% success in coaching the senior payroll staff towards becoming certified, and an unchallenged retention rate of staff under his supervision.
Jose is a well educated and travelled individual with a unique sensitivity to cultural differences and interests. With a BA from the University of Massachusetts, post graduate work at the University of North Florida, a completed executive program at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and a wide variety of professional seminars and trainings both as participant and as educator. Certified by the Association of Financial Professionals and also the American Payroll Association.
Jose volunteers on the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department’s Search and Rescue Team and also works as a part-time Emergency Medical Technician.
Larry Thompson
Instructor
Larry began his involvement in EMS as a National Ski Patrol, patrolling at China Peak and Alpine Meadows. His last day patrolling was the 1982 Avalanche at Alpine Meadows. Larry then became an EMT, first working in an Helicopter based Emergency Department, later working with a rural private Paramedic Ambulance company, primarily utilizing Helicopters for most of their Transports. After graduating from Stanford University Medical Center’s Mobile Intensive Care Paramedic program, Larry worked as a Paramedic in Santa Clara County, helping to implement their Trauma Center System. Moving to Sonoma County, Larry worked for a few Private Ambulance companies and was a Rescue Paramedic flying with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Helicopter unit. During this time he also became a Volunteer Firefighter with Rincon Valley Fire Protection District and completed his Firefighter 1 Academy with Santa Rosa Junior College. Larry was soon hired by Marin County Fire Department as a Firefighter/Paramedic.
Christine Vaishville
Instructor
After graduating from UC Berkeley, Christine went on to become a pediatric ICU nurse working at Kaiser Oakland. Upon moving to Sonoma County, she switched to adult critical care for more than a decade before leaving to raise her three children.
Besides spending time with her husband and family, she enjoys decorating cakes, making desserts, crafting, traveling and playing volleyball and Pickleball. Christine has been sharing her love of volleyball with kids for over 17 years, coaching at St. John’s, Windsor Christian Academy, WHS, Cardinal Newman and Aftershock Volleyball Club. She is excited to join the team at Survival CPR, sharing her knowledge and skills with others, so they can have the confidence to provide life-saving procedures in an emergency.
Sherrie McNulty
Instructor
Sherrie was born and raised in Sonoma County and is currently residing in Cloverdale California. She has three daughters and enjoys being outdoors either working in the garden, hiking with her dogs, or traveling to National Parks to go camping. She has coached many youth sport teams, high school, and college Cheerleading teams across the United States. Currently, Sherrie is employed with Cloverdale Healthcare District as an Emergency Medical Technician, CPR and First Aid Instructor for her community and Survival CPR. She has returned to school to finish her degree in Education and is working towards her Teaching Credential.
What made her pursue Emergency Medical Care?
“I come from a family of first responders and am married to a firefighter. After taking care of my grandmother, I was hooked and wanted to learn more about health care so I could take care of my family, and community”.
Brian Harryman
Instructor
Born and raised in Sonoma County, Brian attended SSU for his Bachelors’ Degree in Biology and then Stanford University Hospital for his Paramedic license. He has worked as a Paramedic for 31 years for various ambulance companies/fire agencies and as a flight medic on REACH and a rescue flight medic on the Sheriff’s Dept. Henry 1. He has also served as adjunct faculty with SRJC and has enjoyed teaching a majority of his public safety life.
Brian’s career job is with the Fire Department; he has been with the City of Berkeley Fire for 25 years as a Firefighter Paramedic, Paramedic Supervisor, Apparatus Operator, Lieutenant, Captain and currently Battalion Chief.
When not at the Fire Department he works for a global corporate security detail traveling the world. He’s at home in Santa Rosa with wife and two son’s. They are avid adventurers and he has enjoy aviation as a pilot, scuba diving in remote tropical locations, hiking, boating, skiing and sports of all kinds.