Hello Everybody!
As you can see, been awhile since I've posted on my blog because I have been busy becoming a volunteer fire fighter and EMT.
Me in my "turnouts"- fire gear.
After returning to my home town of Mendocino, I wanted to get involved in the community somehow and be of service. I have always had a fantasy of being in emergency medicine but really didn't know how I would go about it. Alas, a small town fire dept. seemed to fit the bill. I started my journey on July 4th, 2013 when I volunteered to sell fire t-shirts for our hometown parade. Mendo has two fire houses; the historic Station 841 in town on Lansing St. and the more active Station 840, just up Little Lake Road, one minute out of town proper.
The 4th of July celebration in town is classic American home town pride with bbq's, beer drinking and the famous parade where the fire dept. manages the parade flow and provides first aid for bystanders. I happily arrived at 9:30am that morning to greet my old geography teacher Mr. Gross (a TSG or technical support group for the fire district). We reminisced about growing up in a small town and as the day went on, I kept meeting old classmates (some were fire fighters) and chatting with people about maybe joining the dept. Everyone said, "just come to a meeting,"which are on Wednesday nights from 7-9pm. I thought about it for a day or two and while doing my run around the headlands in town, I passed "the chief," Ed O'Brien. The words just flowed out of my mouth without much thought, "I'll see you at the next meeting chief," I blurted. It was done, I made a verbal commitment to try fire fighting!
Now the fun part….training and getting in fire fighting shape, signing up for EMT school and buckling down. After a few months of attending weekly meetings and trainings as a bystander, I was voted in as a Probationary ("probie") member. Two months later I was beginning EMT school in Boonville, 40 miles south of Mendocino. In April I finished my emergency medicine training and took my National Registry exam to get my EMT certificate. I passed and received my badge shortly afterwards, making me a full-fledged fire fighter.
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| Getting my badge, April 2014 |
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| My fellow fire fighters at MFD. |
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| Me in full gear after a traffic accident. |
It is now almost two years later and I love being a first responder for my community. I go on about 150 calls a year, at all times of the day or night. I now teach CPR and First Aid to kids in the schools and to the community. I also drive the ambulance for Boonville one night a week. I believe in volunteering and giving back and can safely say, this has been one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.
So now, maybe you all can forgive my lack of blogging and keeping up with the social media of the event world; sometimes there are just more important things to do in life!
Be safe and be well, Karin
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