Smithville | NRAD | A-Shift

It’s no secret that by weekend, I am a photographer.  I photograph love, happiness, and sweet memories.

A lesser known fact…by weekday (or night), I am a Paramedic.  I protect patients, treat illness & injury, and comfort pain and sadness.

It’s a strange existence…sort of Yin Yang.  Dark and light forces that are interconnected and create a unique balance in my life.  One day I might be wearing a uniform, splattered with blood/vomit/urine/feces…caring for patients who sometimes are critically ill or experience cardiac arrest.  The next day I might be wearing my typical all-black attire, splattered with champagne and wedding cake…capturing beautifully dressed people who are consumed with laughing and dancing as they celebrate love.  It’s a wild ride…but no regrets.  I became a medic out of sheer curiosity.  Having never needed to call 911 or be hospitalized myself…I never had exposure to EMS prior to Matt (my hubby) going through the medic program a couple years before me.  It fascinated me.  And I desperately try to live life without regret…so I jumped into it.  I did something they refer to as “Zero to Hero”.  With Zero EMS or healthcare experience, I went into school and completed my EMT training, and then went straight into the Paramedic Program without working in the field first.  I can’t say I recommend that path…experience is key.  Learning from a book is not the same thing as learning from real life.  But…I completed the training and threw myself right onto an ambulance.  I worked for NRAD (Northland Regional Ambulance District) for just short of 2 years.  In 2017, three of my female coworkers and I bid positions on the Smithville ambulance station and we had an awesome year.  They were my work family for a year.  It was the first all-female Smithville crew in NRAD history and we got teased in the beginning about how there would be too many hens in the den and drama was bound to ensue.  It’s nice to prove people wrong sometimes.  We were an incredible team.  We encouraged each other, supported each other, learned from each other, helped each other….we even ate dinner together and shared horoscopes at the table (apparently I’m more of a Gemini than a Cancer).  2017 was a good year.  But sadly…I broke up the band.  I decided my curiosity itch hasn’t quite been scratched.  I want to know what happens to patients after they get dropped off at the ER.  I want to know about their healing process…and more about the preventative process.  Therefore…school awaits.  I’m not quite excited about that part, but I’m eager to learn.  Not sure where my quest for information will take me…Critical Care Medic, RN, NP, PA…haven’t figured that out yet.  It will be another adventure.  My happy place will always be with my camera and fun people.  I seem to blend the two worlds occasionally.

Here is one such example.

This is what happens when I bring camera gear to work one night when the people of Smithville are healthy and safe.

I call this session:  Medics at Play

A little Medic humor….What does one Medic say to another Medic on a dual-Medic ambulance?

Q:  Where are we going?

A:  I don’t know.  I’m a Medic.

(Most services have one Medic and one EMT.  The EMT is in charge of driving.) Picture below is Medic 46…Paramedic Kump & Paramedic May.

Picture is Medic 47.  Paramedic Gibbs & Paramedic Flavin.And this is what happens when you hand someone a camera with back-focus settings in place.  Pretty much every picture of me….ever. I miss these girls so much.  It was a gooooooood year.