|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Teen Medics Save Lives
| Article
# : |
20062 |
|
|
Section : |
LIFE
|
| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1992 |
2,579 Words |
| Author
: |
Sherry Von Ohlsen
Sherry Von Ohlsen writes from her base in Sparta, New Jersey. |
Teenage voices linger in the halls at the Emergency Medical Service in Darien, Connecticut. Hand-drawn and colored with markers, the original twenty-two-year-old poster calls for teenagers, ages fourteen to eighteen, to do something important: Rescue lives. Another sign reads: Assume Nothing.
Sixty of the eighty members of the Darien Emergency Medical Service are teenagers under eighteen. The teens call themselves Posties. On this particular day, they sack out on the couch while the TV blares. Others cluster on the floor discussing their teachers. Some attempt homework before tossing in a five-dollar bill for a take-out dinner, soon to be brought in for the crews who will answer tonight's calls.
Their shift begins at 5:30 p.m. The team that will take out the first ambulance when a call comes weave through the room donned in whites. They check out the ambulance, the supplies, the machinery. In the ground, code signals blare, a police radio squawks; the outside world is a welcome intruder. There is constant motion, phones ringing, kids talking and giggling.
Pat Ryan is on call tonight. He is a quiet, intense eighteen-year-old whose eyes seem to consume the world. Being part of Post 53 has offered him a way to heal himself by healing others. Two years ago, his brother, then eighteen, died unexpectedly. Now Ryan finds hope providing it for others. And strength, he says. "You don't get strong unless things happen to you. I love this. It's a great experience. I'm actually helping someone and they don't think, 'Hey, you're a kid, you can't do this.'" The Post is Ryan's outlet. It has taught him how to manage time and himself. "If I don't know how to do something, I have to be truthful and admit it to learn how. I've also learned that if I give this my all, I get a whole lot back."
While Ryan learns the mechanics of saving lives, he is gaining values and characters. The post has eight watchwords or, some might say, goals: personal integrity, love, pride, dependability, trust, responsibility, confidence, and professionalism. "If people realized how much power they have, they'd understand the need for community," he says, defining power as the willingness, knowledge, and endurance to do something. The bond between Posties rivals that of family, and their commitment to the job resembles military duty. In searching for heroes, Ryan has become, like the other Posties, a hero unto himself.
Positive peer
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
