Staff Writer

 

Most times when you hear about a 911 call, you worry about the person who had the emergency but don’t really think much about the first responders who come to the rescue not knowing what to expect when they arrive.

Senior Hayden Clemons can tell you how stressful it is to have such enormous responsibilities and put strangers’ lives into your own hands.

Hayden has been training to be an Emergency Medical Technician for the past three months. An EMT responds to emergency calls to give immediate care to people who are sick or injured, and to transport the patient to a medical facility, according to Health.ny.gov.

Hayden became interested in being an EMT because his grandmother was an ER nurse. Hayden enjoys how his job is like a brotherhood. He also likes being in the community helping others, rather than having to work inside in the same building every time, like his grandmother did when she was a nurse.

Hayden works 24 hours a month, mostly on Friday nights and sometimes Saturday mornings. Some of the calls that Hayden responds to are for fires and car crashes. Despite all the responsibilities of training, Hayden makes sure that he is responsible, so he usually completes his homework between calls.

Hayden’s job is challenging. He says that the hardest part is getting up at 2 in the morning for calls, then going back to the station and getting called again after settling down.  

Sometimes Hayden doesn't even get any sleep at all, but this is what he wants to do, so he is willing to go through it. One hardship that especially stresses him out is, after a call, being worried about the people that he and his team just attended to and hoping that they are in good hands and will be okay.

“This job can be very hard because we are working with cops and firefighters, and we don't know what we are getting ourselves into during every call. You just don't know what you are dealing with,” Hayden said.

He then added, “You always need to [have] a mindset that you are going there and helping a person who is most likely scared, and all you can do is just help the person.”

For the future, Hayden says that he is planning on going to college, then the military. After that, he will focus on his job as an EMT.

Dean of Students Mr. Shank said Hayden is a hard worker who will find success.

“Hayden is a very hard working, friendly, helpful and trustworthy student... In the future, I can see Hayden doing well with this job because he likes to help people.”