Hello everyone! Brand new here and wanting to say hi and introduce myself a bit.
I went to college in hopes of becoming an engineer right out of high school, and failed badly. Took years to straiten out my brain and get back to building a future. Found a good job at a millwork distributer and spent 7 years there working my way up from the shop floor to foreman to management. Picked up my Medical First Responder at a local community college for work, and realized that education and I might be able to get along afterall. Took a summer course in chemistry, then a buiology and psych course in the fall, then went full time at night until I picked up an AA. Last summer, a couple of months after picking up my AA, I lost my job. Decided to go to school full time.
I decided on a path towards medicine early on. I had thoughts of becoming a paramedic and started work towards that. I was then told how little they made in comparison with an RN (same program time) and I shifted my focus a little bit more towards that. Took all of the prereqs for the program and was all set to go when I was told I had screwed around long enough to have gained enough credits to graduate if I just took a PE course. Spent a week caonoeing for credit and filed the paperwork to graduate in the winter. My graduation present to myself was an EMT-Basic course in the spring, and when I did my clinicals in the local ER I was hooked. Felt at home there with the pace, the people, and the culture.
I’ve been volunteering with an EMS team covering all sorts of public events in the Twin Cities for about three years now, starting as a first responder and moving up to EMT-B. Have had the opportunity to help people, develop interview skills, and occasionally make a real difference in someone’s life.
Anyhow, got to keep plugging on the studies for finals next week. Look forward to hearing from some of you.
Welcome to OPM! I just finished finals last week, so I know how stressful that time can be … good luck this coming week on yours!
Thanks! It’s been so hard to keep at it with the weather finally turning nice, but feel pretty good about where I am at for the most part.