ĢĒŠÄTV students work as EMTs, firefighters during COVID-19 pandemic
Hector Salazar ā20 didnāt head home to Chicago when the COVID-19 pandemic began spreading across the globe. A volunteer firefighter and an EMT with a local fire department and ambulance service, he has important work to do.
āI signed up to serve the community and I have a responsibility to do so; we can't just stop coming into work until this is over. People depend on us,ā said Salazar, who is one of at least five ĢĒŠÄTV students working as EMTs on the front lines of the pandemic.
āIt is during a crisis like this that it is even more important to step up to the plate and let the community know that we are here to help.ā
An environmental studies and anthropology double major and , Salazar arranged to stay on campus. For the last several weeks, heās been balancing his distance learning coursework while working up to 32 hours a week on the ambulance, and responding to fire calls as they come in.
āI was promoted in January to 2nd Lieutenant, and I am very proud to serve and learn in the capacity of a fire company officer,ā he said. āMuch like the student-athletes, I think of myself as a student-firefighter.ā
Taylor Chafey ā20, a biology major and government minor, is also working and volunteering as an EMT in Waterford, ĢĒŠÄTVecticut. She said the last few weeks have been unlike anything sheās ever seen.
āItās slowly getting more and more serious and stressful as [the number of COVID-19 cases] are increasing,ā she said. āItās a different environment; the whole way we approach patients at an emergency scene has changed.ā
While Chafey admits that it can be scary to think about contracting the virus herself, she said sheās taking all necessary precautions.
āWhen it comes down to it, Iād rather have myself out thereāsomeone who is young and ableāthan someone who is older and immunocompromised,ā she said.
Chafey said she would like to go to graduate school, and is considering a career as a physician assistant. Working as an EMT during a pandemic, sheās gaining hands-on experience.
āI may never see something like this again in my lifetime,ā she said. āAnd thatās quite fine with me. But if I do, Iāll be a little more prepared for it.ā
Sydney Bryan ā21 usually spends her summers at home in Wyoming, working for the emergency medical department at Grand Teton National Park, where the bulk of her work includes search and rescue calls from the backcountry. But since the park is closed to limit the spread of COVID-19, sheās staying in New London County to continue working for American Ambulance Service in Norwich, ĢĒŠÄTVecticut.
āItās wildly different work,ā said Bryan, a dance major, biology minor and scholar in the Creativity Pathway.
āHere, since itās much more urban, we do a mix of emergency calls and hospital transports. We see more major medical problems, and not as much trauma.ā
While Bryan says she misses her family in Wyoming, she is glad to be using her skillset to help the community. In her free time, sheās also hand-making masks to help with the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Victoria Duszak ā21 says keeping up with the near-daily changes to PPE protocol can be a challenge.
āItās stressful overall, but itās the same for everyone working in healthcare right now,ā she said.
A behavioral neuroscience and Slavic studies double major, physics minor and scholar in the Holleran Center for Community Action, Duszak is working as an EMT in Wolcott, ĢĒŠÄTVecticut, near her hometown of Southington. She said itās been interesting to go from responding to calls that run the gamut of emergency issues to working almost exclusively with COVID-19 or suspected COVID-19 patients.
āNow, if we get a call, itās almost always going to be a COVID patient. Every time the radio goes off,ā she said.
The experience has solidified Duszakās interest in becoming a doctor, and sheās currently applying to medical schools.
āItās definitely interesting living through something that we are going to talk about and look back on, but I guess thatās the job. You take whatever comes at you in medicine,ā she said.
While ĢĒŠÄTVās students are working on the front lines as EMTs and firefighters, ĢĒŠÄTV alumni are treating patients in emergency rooms, working to develop COVID-19 treatments and helping to manufacture PPE. Learn more.
