By Nate Oliver, Paramedic/Firefighter
My true calling was 9/11, making me the first member of my family to do something this crazy.
More important to me is what I like to call my rebirth, which happened last month.
I have been in EMS for eight years and have been taking classes to get out of EMS and pursue a different career.
I was on call from home at my second job when a call for a cardiac arrest kicked out. Little did we know it was a 20-month-old who was found submerged.
The initial impression was he was dead.
The next thing I knew, there were four paramedics, including myself, in the back of an ambulance doing everything we could. Even though we all came from different backgrounds, there was a camaraderie that cannot be compared with many other organizations.
Within 10 minutes we had a pulse.
Just recently, we all got back together to do a follow-up. As the youngster walked in with his family, with no deficits, I realized that I will probably never retire from this job willingly.
It took me eight years to realize that this is my true calling. The unity of all of us for the common good is what makes this profession worth it.