Current Release: September 11th, 2007 | Vol. XXIV Iss. 10

Photo courtesy of Adrienne Skinner

Student finds her calling as an EMT personnel

By Mattie Reuhlmann

A call comes into a dispatcher for an ambulance. An Emergency Medical Technician unit is called to bring the patient into the hospital.

Who do they call? Perhaps the call goes out to Adrienne Skinner.

Skinner is a junior this year. She's just moved into her own apartment, and she holds two EMT jobs. One is for the city of Virginia Beach, another is a volunteer job, and the other is a Medical Transport position, which she receives payment for.

She won a lifesaving award for 2006 by saving an older woman's life.

"I've only saved a life once," said Skinner.

She said she was glad it was that woman.

"It was so sad--her husband was looking in through the window of the ambulance," said Skinner.

She expressed how sad it was to see a man, who must have been in his 80s, watching his wife. He had hopped up on the back of the ambulance to peer in the window.

By the time the team had gotten to the woman, she was having chest pains but said she didn't think she needed to go in the ambulance. She was given nitroglycerin to bring her heart back to its normal rhythm. En route she started to go into cardiac arrest, and Skinner began CPR, which brought the woman back.

The man was so grateful afterwards that his wife was still alive that he sent cards to each member of the team that had saved her life.

As a Medical Transport she takes people from one place to another. One time she was called to take a 7-year-old boy from a Patient 1st to Virginia Beach General Hospital. The boy had croup, which causes the trachea to swell.

"Its hard for me to see children," Skinner said. "That's my weakness."

She explained how every EMT has a weakness about certain kinds of calls. The job has a high level of exposure to stressful situations. Because of the amount of stress, there is a special counseling group available to EMTs.

"There is always someone to talk to," said Skinner.

The work she does now has influenced her life in more than one way. It has also helped her to see what she wants to do with her life.

In her job she has been called to crime scenes. The access to these scenes allows her to see what forensic scientists do. She has become a criminal justice major after seeing what real forensics is about.

"It's a lot different from what you see on CSI," said Skinner.

She also wants to pursue becoming a paramedic. Her goal is to become an undercover investigator and a paramedic on the side.

"I would do it now," said Skinner, "but the classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when I have a heavy class load."

Skinner enjoys her job.

"Its more of a high, like I enjoy what I'm doing," Skinner said.

She admits that after a while it does get to her. People have to put up blocks, otherwise it will start to affect them.

"It’s hard," Skinner said. "After a while it wears on you. You never know what you're going to come upon. And every now and again, you think of your family."