By Steven Mayer
The Bakersfield Californian
KERN COUNTY, Calif. — Kern County resident Aubrielle Faith Lucia was one of a dozen students who graduated Wednesday from the Hall Ambulance EMT Academy before an appreciative audience filled with family, friends, academy alumni and Hall Ambulance leadership.
The 22-year-old packed in enough knowledge and information over those few weeks at the academy to seemingly last a lifetime. But she and her mom say her training actually began years ago at home.
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“She’s one of 12 kids,” said her mom, Beverly Lucia. “We adopted nine. She’s part of a set of twins that we did have. But she has 11 siblings, nine of whom are adopted.”
And several have special needs, including Down syndrome, autism, and ring chromosome 13, a rare genetic condition with a wide range of possible symptoms, including developmental delays and organ malformations.
So the younger Lucia grew up caring for and taking care of others, sometimes in the midst of emergencies, big and small.
“I think that influenced why I want to go into the medical field,” she said following Wednesday’s ceremony held at the Collective, an event center in downtown Bakersfield.
“We started foster care again when I was a teenager. And so that also inspired me to work specifically in the medical field, since we had medically fragile babies at home who, even now that they’re toddlers, still have medical problems.”
It was 2001 when the Harvey L. Hall EMS Academy was born, a place where the burgeoning ambulance company could recruit and train the men and women who would serve as entry-level emergency medical services employees before moving up through the ranks of a company that now has more than 500 employees and more than 100 ambulances at bases in many Kern County communities.
Wednesday’s graduation ceremony was in honor of academy class No. 50, comprised of 12 young students, each of whom has already passed the required NREMT exam, or the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians exam.
“We’re really blessed to have such good people coming through the door,” Hall Ambulance President and CEO Jonathon R. Surface said at Wednesday’s celebration.
Before EMT Felipe Hernandez led the gathering in the flag salute, Surface noted that Hernandez was a graduate of the academy’s class No. 4.
Paramedic Ruben Gonzalez, academy class No. 41, spoke for a few minutes to the new graduates and their families.
After two years working as an EMT, Gonzalez said, and eager to enhance his skills and patient care abilities, he began studying for his paramedic certification.
“I’m proud to say that for a month now I’ve been a practicing paramedic at Hall,” Gonzalez said to a roar of cheers and applause.
Yes, working at Hall Ambulance means you will experience “long shifts and tough hours,” he said to his new colleagues.
“This job will change you, I hope for the better,” he said.
Vanish Lawrence Sagar, who came to the United States from India in 2018, was chosen to be class speaker. He spoke about the profound responsibility EMS employees must shoulder as they embark on their careers.
“When someone calls 911,” he said, “their life depends on how we respond.
“When somebody calls us, we will do whatever it takes to save their life.”
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