By EMS1 Staff
SHERMAN, Texas — A U.S. magistrate judge retired to become a paramedic.
USCourts.gov reported that Don Bush, a 70-year-old retired U.S. magistrate judge from Texas, is now a newly-certified paramedic. He has pulled multiple 24-hour shifts and ran his own ambulance crew as well as performed complex medical procedures.
“My son does a lot of medical trips to Haiti,” Bush said. “About the time I began to think of retiring, I thought it’d be interesting to go down and do that with him. So I started aiming to become an EMT, and after that I went through the paramedic program. I was blessed to be able to get the training.”
Toward the end of his time on the bench, Bush went to paramedic school at night.
“Initially everybody looked at him like, ‘What are you doing here?’” classmate Bob White said. “I mean, one, can you do this physically, and two, why are you not retired? But the age thing went out the window real quick. He was probably in better shape than anyone in that class. His cardio was second to none.”
White also said that Bush created comprehensive course outlines and invite classmates to help them study.
“It’s because of him that I did so well,” White said. “Everyone who went to his study groups passed.”
Bush now works in a nonprofit urgent care clinic and is also a paramedic for Texas Star Ambulance.