The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Contributed by Kay Peterson-Cook
Margaret “Peg” Sharp RN, CFRN, NREMT-P, CEN will be the recipient of the 2025 EMS Association of Colorado’s Francis Mildred Roth Women in EMS award. Nominated by her peers, Peg is highly respected by her fellow workers, supervisors and all the lucky people she has helped over the years.
Peg’s career in emergency medical services and nursing spans nearly four decades, marked by a calm and caring demeanor, exceptional clinical skill, a focus on lifelong learning, and an ongoing dedication to serve rural communities across the Western Slope. Peg has demonstrated the traits necessary to be a role model for women in the EMS profession throughout Colorado. Ms. Sharp exemplifies the values and legacy of Francis Mildred Roth, and there is no one more deserving of this recognition than her.
Peg grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and found Colorado when she attended CU Boulder in 1979. After college, Peg found Crested Butte in 1983. She fit into the local lifestyle and worked numerous jobs at the restaurants and property management businesses.
Her journey into EMS services started with driving the ambulance in 1984, when a roommate who was an EMS volunteer said they needed more volunteer drivers. Peg had no medical training, but soon found herself immersed in the Crested Butte Fire Department EMS world. She took the First Responder course, then basic EMT, IV certification and before long she was the president of the EMS Association for the CBFPD. In this capacity Peg spearheaded the successful effort to get the District’s EMS providers included with the CB firefighters in the State of Colorado’s volunteer firefighter pension fund. Sharp was involved in the response to the Crested Butte State Bank explosion tragedy as well as many other incidents over the years. Peg was the first woman in the district to retire with 25 years of service.
As Paul Hird states, “When I became an EMT with Crested Butte Fire Protection District in 1989, Peg Sharp was already working for the district as an EMT. From the beginning of my EMS work, it was clear to me Peg was not only a friend, but a dedicated and very active member of our district and community, and clearly someone to look up to. She not only excelled as an EMT, but she was very involved in other activities with the fire district as well as our community, where she would, without hesitation, volunteer at health fairs as well as other district or hospital events.
Peg was always very professional and had a level of calm and compassion not only for her patients, but their family members as well. Peg also had a remarkable ability to bring people together, offering her many years of experience and knowledge to her fellow coworkers. Peg’s knowledge and expertise throughout her career has been a vital asset for the Crested Butte Fire Protection District. Although I was not a regular ambulance attendee with Peg, those few times I happened to be on calls with her, she had a level of calm and confidence that was unsurpassed. She could turn a chaotic call into a well-rehearsed knowledge-based call with good outcomes.”
Peg advanced her medical career when she decided to pursue nursing. She became an RN and started working at the Gunnison Valley Hospital in 1995.
Through continued EMS work and at the Gunnison Valley Hospital, Peg met many of the flight crews with the helicopter out of St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction. She was impressed with them and thought they were an amazing group and began putting into motion the idea of her future job. After several years of working in the hospital in Gunnison, she approached the St. Mary’s Hospital Emergency Department (ED) about working there part-time as well as working in Gunnison and volunteering for CBEMS. Then she attended a paramedic program at Creighton University in Omaha, NE. Peg knew it was important to have both an RN license and EMT-Paramedic certification to get the widest area of knowledge and credibility with the EMS and hospital communities.
After completing several years in the St. Mary’s Hospital ED to gain experience, Peg began flying part-time for St. Mary’s CareFlight on their fixed wing aircraft. It was a coveted job and the flight nurses who were working for CareFlight (AirLife at the time) had been there for many years and new positions for full-time work were hard to come by.
In 2012, Peg landed the full-time flight nurse position flying on both the helicopter and fixed-wing airplane for CareFlight. Sharp continued working full-time with CareFlight of the Rockies until her retirement last May 2024. In addition to patient care, Peg has assisted with training and precepting new staff, community outreach and ongoing volunteering at many community events in the Crested Butte area and the Western Slope.
Peg would like to extend her thanks to the CBFPD for the nomination for this award. Additionally, she extends the greatest appreciation for all of the EMS, Fire, Law Enforcement and Healthcare professionals who have been an inspiration and continue to do the hard work every day. She sends special thanks to Renee and her family of friends for their support and love over the years.
