COVID19

I have volunteered and worked in EMS for my entire adult life. Many of my friends are part of the Vermont emergency services community. Being part of that team is the greatest honor I can imagine. When it became clear that COVID-19 was reaching pandemic level and that it would inexorably affect the healthcare system, I watched my colleagues spring into action.

Before entering medical school, I worked for eight years as a registered nurse in the emergency department at UVM Medical Center, finally hanging up my nursing scrubs at the start of my clerkship year at the Larner College of Medicine. I did not expect to return to my roots, but as the COVID-19 pandemic began to upend the lives of everyone in our community, I started to explore how I could help while continuing my medical education along with my classmates through remote instruction.

Many universities across the country have a student-run emergency medical service, ranging from students first responding on bikes to transporting patients on ambulances. The University of Vermont is a rarity in that it is one of the few universities in the country that fields an undergraduate-run, 911 ambulance operating at the Advanced Life Support (ALS) level. After joining at the beginning of my sophomore year, I was hooked. I quickly became an EMT, then an advanced-EMT, and medicine became my passion.