Where It All Started In EMS

When I was 9 years old, after 9/11, I remember reading Chicken Soup for the Soul: America. Stories of the courageous men and women who ran toward danger while everyone else ran away.

Something in me knew, that's what I wanted to do.

With a mom as a 911 dispatcher and a stepup-dad as a paramedic, I grew up watching sacrifice firsthand. The long shifts, missed moments and service to others. I always thought I’d become a police officer, go into investigation and negotiate but life had different plans.

EMT. Wildland firefighter. Paramedic. Medical Unit Leader.

Just two months after certification, my first incident occurred, a helicopter crash. Fear, adrenaline, excitement, chaos… and somehow, beneath all of it, I felt the pull. I wanted more.

Over the years I've worked remote EMS, supported wildfires, and stepped into roles that taught me medicine was never just about medicine. It was about people. Leadership. Decision-making. Humanity. Community.

Mental health was a part of my mission from day one as a psychology major. Speaking, training, peer support, helping coworkers and strangers who eventually became family.

Eventually leadership strain, things outside my control, and the weight of my life caught up with me.

I left EMS.

I jumped into real estate head first and tried building a different life. But if I’m honest, I was still doing what medics do: helping people through uncertainty, emotions, crisis, and hard decisions.

Then my own world cracked open.

After years of outrunning pain through achievement, a podcast, work, goals, and proving I could do hard things… I couldn’t outrun myself and the life I was hiding from and the childhood I had covered up.

In 2024 I was diagnosed with cPTSD, years of buried pain surfacing, I had to ask: What do I want my life to look life? What does God want for me? Who am I called to be?

And somehow, He brought me back to where it all started.

Back to medicine. Back to wildfires. Back to the wilderness. Right where I belong.

So to the 9-year-old little girl who once asked, "Would you run toward danger when everyone else is running away?"

My answer is still: Yes.

Happy EMS Week to every provider carrying their own story, sacrifices, heartbreak, victories, and purpose. Keep fighting the good fight🤍🚑