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Blogging medic: ‘I write to cope’

Crystal Wallin found her true calling in EMS, and uses her blog to chronicle the yo-yoing emotions that come with the job

LaCrosse Tribune

La Crosse, Wis. — A series of part-time gigs as a rural emergency volunteer led Crystal Wallin to conclude that her true calling was to the emergency medical field instead of banking.

“I started volunteering because in rural areas where I live, volunteers are about all we have,” said the 37-year-old Wallin, who began volunteering in her hometown of Seneca, Wis.

Now a critical care paramedic for Gundersen Tri-State Ambulance, Wallin also served as a volunteer first responder in Soldiers Grove, where she worked at the bank, and Prairie du Chien, where she lives with her husband, Kurt, and the six children in their blended family.

Read full story: Paramedic: ‘You see horrific things — and it changes you’