Learning
The Ropes
There's a
lot to look at in the back of an ambulance. What do you think?
By Amy Hoak
Correspondent, Daily Southtown
Of course there's the stretcher. There's also the sterile burn sheets,
the backboards and collars for gun-shot victims and the drug box.
And, inside a sealed plastic bag is everything you could possibly need
for delivering a baby. There's even a supply of tin foil, that when
placed around the outside of a newborn's blanket serves as a practical
way to keep the baby warm.
Delivering a baby, after all, is something that emergency medical
technicians do frequently and is a skill you have to master before you
can get certified.
"For real?" 17-year-old Brandie Yancy asked a trainer at
Daley's Ambulance Service in Dolton.
Yancy and Myecha Harrison, both seniors at Thornridge High School,
followed Cheryl Eddy on Friday, as part of National Groundhog Job Shadow
Day. Eddy teaches aspiring EMTs and is herself a paramedic.
"There's nothing else in the world I'd rather be doing," Eddy
told the girls after they climbed out of the ambulance.
Before that, Eddy described the "golden hour" that EMTs have
between the time an accident happens and the when the victim gets to the
operating table. They also spent time in the dispatching center,
listening to workers give directions to accident scenes as tracking
computers flashed ambulances' coordinates.
The girls were assigned to Daley's because they are interested in
studying medicine when they begin college next year. Harrison wants to
become a forensic pathologist and Yancy thinks she'd like to be a
pediatric surgeon.
But in the meantime, Eddy told them both, it might not be a bad idea to
become an EMT.
"A lot of times people get halfway through (medical school) and
find out that it's not for them," Eddy told the girls, adding that
any exposure they could get to the medical field would be valuable.
By 11:30 a.m., Yancy was trying to figure out a way she could take EMT
classes before she goes away to college.
Howard Hojnicki, the work-based learning coordinator for Thornridge,
praised the job shadowing program for bringing community businesses and
the school together.
"It gives (a student) a feel of what their career interest
is," Hojnicki said.
Other Thornridge students explored government jobs in Thornton Township
or worked at other areas businesses, including Robinson Engineering in
South Holland, he said.
Other Southland high schools including Bremen, Hillcrest, Thornton, Oak
Forest, Thornton Fractional North and South, Thornwood and Tinley Park
participated in the event sponsored by the Southland
Education-to-Careers Partnership. The organization aims to
link the business and education communities in the south suburbs.
Melissa Martino, a senior at Oak Forest High School, and Roxanne Murray,
a senior at T.F. North High School, spent the day shadowing Daily
Southtown reporter Stephanie Gehring. Gehring took the two 17-year-olds
to Brookfield Zoo where they interviewed
onlookers about Groundhog Day activities.
Nationwide, more than 1 million students were expected to participate.
More than 100,000 companies agreed to let students shadow workers.
The program began in 1997 as a way for young people to visit workplaces,
and a way that businesses could let students know what skills they
needed to succeed in the future.
As Eddy talked to the girls at Daley's, she told them that she wished
she took more science classes in school. She added that communications
courses such as English and speech were probably the most useful classes
to succeed as an EMT.
"Ninety percent of what we do is psychological care, putting their
minds at ease," Eddy said.
She said one of the most difficult parts of the job is preparing the
hospital with thecondition of the patient. Communicating effectively
helps doctors and nurses know what to expect when the ambulance arrives.
Later, as the three looked at photos of accident victims — including
one of a man who had gone through the windshield of his car — another
prerequisite came up: The ability to take the blood and gore that comes
with being among the first medical professionals on the
scene.
"I tell my students 'Your touch could be (the victim's) first or
their last,'" Eddy said. "We don't save lives every day, but
we make a difference every day."
"There's no better feeling for people to come up and say 'you saved
my life.'"