Tiny Cut

It’s so tiny. You can barely see it there on the side of my finger. Yet it’s implications are huge and the very sight of it terrifies me. The barely visible cut hurts but it’s a psychologically based hurt…not a valid physical pain. I try to tell myself it is just part of the job and that all the tests will come back negative. In the meantime, I am left with a million scenarios and scary possibilities.

Free as a Bird

He's my dad. No one else knows I think of him that way. The same blood runs through us...Type A EMS blood. He has helped me grow to where I am today. He guided me as I took my first faltering steps and watched painfully as I fell down on more occasions than I care to admit. But every time he helped me back up and encouraged me to keep going. In more ways than I can count, he is my hero and I will always look up to him. But today, he is letting me go. He is sending me into the world of paramedicine on my own.

Only 17

She is shaking uncontrollably. Her knees are pulled to her chest and when I address her, she briefly unburies her face from her hands. The face that greets me is far too young to be in her predicament. I know that she doesn't need medical help but the officers onscene aren't going to deal with her so I am left with no choice.
I ask her name and she replies in a small terrified voice. She tells me she is only 17.