I’m really excited to let you all know that I passed all of my written and practical testing! I’m now part of the National Registry of EMTs and a certified Wyoming State EMT! It’s been a very intense month of studying — an entire semester fit into 18 days of classes, plus 8-hour weekend clinical rotations at the local hospitals — but exhausting as it may have been, it was very rewarding.

The material covered not only urban emergency medicine situations, but also scenarios that may arise in the wilderness. Thus, I learned how to fix an open pneumothorax with tape and a plastic bag — puncture wound to the chest, anyone? — or how to identify the different pit vipers and spiders common to Wyoming. In addition to many hours of lectures and notetaking, we spent a lot of time outside in the beautiful yet cold Wyoming weather practicing how to wrap someone suffering from hypothermia or build a makeshift litter from sticks and rope to carry a patient to help.

My clinical rotations were, luckily, pretty uneventful. My clinical partners and I spent a lot of time taking vitals and practicing documentation typical of EMTs and paramedics. I appreciated being able to talk to real patients and see behind the scenes of two small-town hospitals!

In addition to meeting with actual EMTs and learning about the ins and outs of ambulances, we got to meet the members of a rescue team and take a look inside their helicopter! If anyone thinks CPR is hard, imagine doing it in an extremely enclosed space high above the ground — I’m convinced that helicopter rescue workers are close to real-life superheros.

All of these experiences accumulated in the final certifications to become an EMT — my past week has been full of exams — on Wednesday and early this morning, I took a series of multiple-choice written exams covering the expanse of expected EMT knowledge — from basic patient care to understanding a variety of illnesses and conditions. In addition to written exams, I went through a series of exams assessing my practical abilities — attaching a patient to a backboard, administering medication, splinting joints and longbones. It was a great culmination of the past 200 hours of classtime and many more of studying.

Next on the schedule? Two months in remote western US! I leave on Sunday for a canyoneering section with eight other classmates and two instructors out of Green River, Utah, and will be saying goodbye to cell service and shower for a while 🙂 I look forward to sharing photos and stories when I’m hopefully able to connect back at the end of March!