First Responder Ride-Alongs Excite and Educate Emergency Services Students



On a Wednesday in late March, CRTC Emergency Services I student Sarah Lewis was living the dream, job shadowing at the Concord Fire Department’s Station 7, pulling a 11-hour shift alongside the rest of the station’s crew when the call came in for a woman who had overdosed on fentanyl. When they arrived at the scene the woman had stopped breathing and was turning blue.


“My first thought was ‘oh my God, this really happens to people,’” the Concord High School junior said. “Then it was like, okay, I guess it’s time to get to work, and after that I was focused on watching, learning and what I could do to help.”


Unfortunately, the woman died at the scene, which, Sarah said, became another important lesson in how first responders deal with tragedy. “Other firefighters on the shift talked with me about the experience, and helped me to gain some perspective. It’s almost like you deal with it, you talk about it, and then you move on.”


Sarah is one of a number of CRTC Emergency Services students who have participated in Extended Learning Opportunities (ELOs) this spring that gave them the chance to take their learning beyond the classroom and onto the jobsite where they can gain some practical experience and learn firsthand whether or not this career pathway is for them.


“Once they experience the ambulance ride alongs, they either hate it or can’t get enough of it,” said CRTC Health Science teacher Brain Beauman, who teaches many Emergency Services students EMT training in their second year. “About 75 percent fall under the ‘I love it’ category.”


Louise Bishop said she’s known since she was young that she didn’t want a boring job and that she wanted to help people. The Hopkinton High School junior participated in the Hopkinton Fire Explorer Program prior to joining CRTC Emergency Services.


“In the beginning of the year, coming in as a fire explorer, I was only interested in the firefighting aspect of the class,” she said. “But after my very real experience in the ambulance ride along, I’ve learned to love and appreciate the Emergency Medical Responder side of things.”


Louise also did her job shadow at CFD’s Station 7, and although most of her shift was spent doing firehouse chores and going on routine calls, she also experienced an emergency medical situation when they were called out to nearby Loudon for a woman in cardiac arrest.


“Even though it was kind of scary, it was a real push into the real world,” the first year Emergency Services student said. “Every day you work is like visiting somebody’s worst day. But despite that, it was really an exciting experience for me and one that made me realize that this is what I want to do for a career.”


Louise will be taking EMT-Basic at Granite State EMS in her senior year, and hopes to get her Firefighter 1 certification at the NH Fire Academy in Concord, as well. She plans to pursue a career as a firefighter/EMT. Sarah plans to follow a similar track in her senior year, and would like to become a firefighter/paramedic when she’s finished her education.


“I think being in the CRTC emergency services program has been a really good introduction to this career field,” Sarah said. “It has shown me that this is something I do really consider to be my future, and that I will continue on this path after the class and after high school.”


Click Here to learn more about the CRTC Emergency Services program.


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