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Such Is the Life of an EMT Zachary Schwartz
Your first shift back is never easy. When you leave for work at 0515 hours,
the only things running through your system are coffee, anxiety, and thoughts of what you could’ve done differently. Before you can produce any logical answers, you find yourself at the station, ready to relieve yesterday’s EMS crew. Such is the life of an EMT.
As you sit down in the far corner of the room, you notice eyes following
you like those of a hunter tracking deer. They know what happened on your last shift, but they won’t mention it until you do. You close your eyes and try to rest, but the dark abyss your eyes are accustomed to seeing is replaced by fragments. Gloves. Blood. A mother’s look of dread. Such is the life of an EMT.
An hour creeps by at a snail’s pace. When you awaken from your quasi-
sleep state, it is just you and your partner. You realize you have woken up for a call as a dispatcher spits out an address and a complaint. You stumble into the ambulance and the memories come flooding back. Such is the life of an EMT.
The screams of a mother in the front seat. The bewildered, panicked
look of the young firefighter. The desperate attempts to start an IV. The frustration. The agony. The anger at other cars who refuse to yield. The feeble fantasy that the hospital will be able to perform some other intervention that you didn’t consider, when in fact there exists none. Such is the life of an EMT.
