My first license (I was 18 when the picture was taken)
This was my last license (pic was taken just a few years ago)
Warning: Epic novel to follow, read at your own risk.
I have to admit that on new year's eve I was a little sad. Not because the year was ending, but because a huge chapter in my life was finally closed for good. My EMT certification expired. I know it probably sounds silly that I was sad over this, especially since I quit my job with the ambulance over 3 years ago. I guess in the back of my mind I always thought I would get to go back to work. I wanted to be an EMT since I was in grade school. I had neighbors who worked for the ambulance and my 6th grade teacher did also. When I was in grade school one of my friends fell off of the monkey bars and had the wind knocked out of him. Mrs. Durrant the 6th grade teacher came running out with her jump kit and took care of him. At that moment I knew that I wanted to be an EMT. My chance came when I was attending Snow College. I had applied for the class and was initially turned down. While I was home for Christmas break I received a call from the professor over the class telling me that he had an opening for me. I was thrilled. I'm not sure my parents were, but they helped me with the extra money I needed for the class. I loved the EMT classes. They were my favorite classes at school. I would go to class on Fridays from 6-10 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. I became really close with two of my neighbors whom I took the class with, they ended up getting married the next year. I loved the hands on aspect of the class and I did really well. I had some fun and interesting experiences while doing my clinical hours at the emergency room at UVRMC. I also had to do 100 patient assessments on people and take their vital signs. My sister-in-law Leanne was a good sport to let me bug people at her baby shower and take their vitals. In March (1997) I took my state tests and passed with flying colors and became an official EMT-Basic.
The next year I began running with Ephraim ambulance. I wasn't a homegrown citizen of Ephraim so I was considered an outsider with most of the locals. They weren't thrilled to have me running, but Dave Lanier and Kent Olson who were on the association board took me under their wings and treated me like a daughter. I didn't have many calls while running with Ephraim ambulance, but I got my feet wet and started to build my confidence. I ended up taking the EMT-Intermediate course. I loved this class a lot, I learned how to put in IV's and how to intubate. I absolutely loved learning EMT skills and practicing them. I sacrificed a lot of my social life and family time to take them, but I feel it was worth it.
After graduating from Snow College I worked as an EMT/first aid specialist for the LDS church for the summer at a girls camp. I loved that job and the experiences that I had. After finishing up the summer I took a few months off and then went to work for American Fork ambulance.
I worked for AF for 10 years. I put in lots of hours and was fully dedicated to my job. I worked on call for 12-24 hour stretches and was paid $1.25 an hour. I loved my job and it helped me to grow immensely as a person. When I first started I was so shy and felt like I was such an idiot. Once I got used to the people I worked with and learned where things were and how to use everything, I felt a lot better. I gained confidence and felt like I was really making a difference. I became a CPR instructor and loved teaching people. A few years later I became an EMT instructor which was lots of fun. I was able to help teach a basic class in Saratoga Springs and I taught our EMT's on training night. After I had been running with AF for a while I was asked to take the first response vehicle. I was scared but excited. I kept the car at my house which was full of all the equipment an ambulance was and if I was called out I would go directly to the scene. I was the first one to go in and start caring for the patient. I was always really nervous to run first response, but it gave me a good boost, I felt a little more important. While Ben and I were dating, he thought it was pretty cool to ride in the first response car with me. He wasn't too happy though when I would have to take off and leave him.
I had so many interesting and life altering experiences on the ambulance. I had some really good calls and some really bad. I also had a lot of really dumb calls where I wondered "now why on earth did you think you needed an ambulance?" I helped many an elderly patient back into bed after a fall, I took lots of patients from AF hospital to another hospital and had everything else you could imagine. I even delivered a baby once. There are some calls that still haunt me and even some that still cause me bad dreams. But all in all, I loved the time I spent helping others. It's sad that what ultimately caused me to quit were the politics and the poor treatments from my boss. I was a good EMT. I took my job seriously while still being able to laugh at myself. I worked hard and tried to show genuine compassion for people. I even became the training officer for the department to try and help out. I loved the people I worked with, well most of them. I loved my crews. My last crew I worked with were the best. We got along so well that during a call we hardly had to talk to each other, we knew what our roles were and we all just dug in and worked together. We also had a lot of fun together. There were many nights that I would come home from a call with a sore face from laughing so hard.
I also think about all of the time that I lost with family and friends. When the pager would go off, I would drop everything and run (drive) to the station. Ben was very patient with me and I know it wasn't easy. He hated it when I would have to leave. I missed lots of family events and holidays because of the ambulance. We even have a home video of Addy's first birthday. She was blowing out her candles and you can hear the pager go off in the background. Luckily that night I wasn't gone very long. I missed out a lot, but I'm still grateful for the experiences that I had. I'm grateful that my family, especially Ben is forgiving for all the moments that I missed. Even though my time with the ambulance didn't end in the best way, I still am grateful for those 10 years that I spent giving up my sleep to do what I felt was making a difference. I feel that working on the ambulance helped me to be a better person in many ways and it shaped who I am today. It's a little sad to know that it's over, but I am grateful to not have to run out on my family any more. I'm grateful to be a full time stay at home mom, it's the best job. Who knows, maybe one day I'll go through the classes again or finally become a nurse. Only time will tell.
p.s. now my mind is buzzing with memories of ambulance calls, I may have to write some of them down for history's sake. And if you read all of this thanks for putting up with my boringness.
