“Who among you knows the ABCs of handling hazardous waste situations? » Bill asked, taking the last bite of his home-cooked meal and crumpling up the foil. “An armchair, binoculars and a case of beer!” At the end of our early dinner, Bill, a thirty-something paramedic and firefighter with wire-rimmed glasses, had me and the six other paramedics doubled over with laughter at jokes and stories. . going from a mental institution next door to his childhood home to the police, or as they called them, the “blue canaries”. Since police tended to rush to the scene if there were shot officers in the area, this was a sign that the scene was unsafe for other first responders. If I hadn't known that Bill was an EMT training to be a paramedic, he could have made a living as a comedian. While we ate, all the paramedics exchanged stories about their experiences in the emergency room, in the burn unit or in the ambulance. Everyone was proud if theirs was the most horrible and serious. Childbirth and asthma attacks were nothing, but cardiac arrests and head-on collisions were nothing to talk about. Paramedics are a group of highly motivated people who work as a team to save lives in emergency situations. I came to this table thanks to my grandfather, Dan. Dan is my mother's father, a wiry older man with short hair and a thick white mustache. He worked in many fields throughout his life, but was always a calm and collected man under fire. Not one to stop challenging himself, he participated in this intensive paramedic program for the past year after becoming a paramedic. Everyone sitting around the table was a paramedic, except for Roger, the program director, and the future director. EMT stands for Emergency Medical Technician. They are trained to respond... middle of paper... not easy people to put down. After observing this group of people and their dedication to becoming a paramedic, it piqued my interest and encouraged me to get involved. I want to have more than just knowledge of emergency care. However, for me, learning medical skills only serves a practical purpose, as I have no plans to start a profession in the medical field. Learning more than CPR will definitely be helpful on the long wilderness trips I plan to take/lead in the future. While I attend college in the coming years, I aim to become a certified EMT. I go to Northland College and they even have a WEMT (Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician) program that I plan to take. Wilderness medicine focuses on treating injuries with minimal equipment and personnel, while also being present in remote areas..