My name is Logan Kerney, and I want to be an EMS first responder, hopefully working up to be a firefighter.
I am currently finishing up my undergrad studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, while I have successfully finished up my EMT certification and have applied for my state license as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), too.
I am looking to start applying to ambulance companies and fire departments once I graduate and start working.
Being an EMS provider has been something I have wanted to do since high school. I have been wanting to be an EMS provider because I have a passion for helping those around me and giving back to the community.
Ever since I have wanted to work in this career, I thought it was going to be just physically draining. When I took my basic Emergency Medical Technician training at Truckee Meadows Community College, they told us that working as a first responder is NOT for everyone.
They told us to warn us and not scare us away. I didn't listen to that until we started to cover different types of personal stress caused by work.
Acute stress, cumulative stress, and even Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, started to flow through my brain about what those meant and why they were teaching those to us.
These different types of stress have caused me to think that these will happen to me in my field, and would start to build up or cause me to crash and burn in my profession if I don't know how to recognize them or how to look out for signs of these different types of stress.
Before going to work for the EMS field as an EMT, I have a few questions regarding the mental health of myself and others striving to work in the EMS field.
As someone who wants to work in Emergency Medical Services (EMS), it is going to be very important for me to know the resources [for myself] and my colleagues or future EMS personnel.
I have a few questions regarding the resources, like what is provided by the company, and is there anything they do to look out for my mental health if I am not able to recognize my own behavior changes as well. These questions and resources would be very helpful to know before getting into the EMS career so I know where to go and what to look out for.
Renown offers a first responder outpatient program in Northern Nevada. These programs are accessible through most insurance companies. They encounter and address different types of mental health challenges, like trauma, PTSD, mental health, and substance use disorders.
This is a very important resource for Northern Nevada’s first responders. It is accessible to all and isn't private to a certain type of first responder either.
Some of the benefits for the local medical ambulances, REMSA, are that they offer reimbursement for gym memberships, peer support, and many other benefits.
A reimbursement of a gym membership is cool because of what I learned in class, since a good way to cope with stress and help mental health is to exercise. This benefit is going to push the employees to go and work out to stay physically healthy, but to also encourage employees to help with their mental health without having to pay for a membership themselves.
Our Town Reno contribution by Logan Kerney in partnership with a COM 210 class at UNR with Amy Pason