Where are you from and how did you make it to Jackson? I’m from North Carolina, from Chapel Hill. I had a friend move out here and I had just graduated college and I was like hell yeah I’ll move! That was in 2019.

What do you do for work? I’m a nurse in the PCU at St. John’s.

What do you do in your free time? I ski, hike, hang out with my friends, play with my dog…that’s about it I think. 

How long have you been a part of JH Fire/EMS? Since the spring of 2022.

What made you want to join? Honestly, I think most of it was that I had a lot of free time and it aligned with my interests in emergency situations. I wanted to be more involved in the community and it also aligned with the type of medicine that I wanted to be doing. It’s more exciting and I was just looking for a new adventure. 

What is your role in the department? Volunteer out of Station 1.

What are your current certs? Fire 1, Hazmat, EVOC, and I’ll be getting my EMT at some point and Redcard in May.

What are your future goals in the department? I don’t even know what my goals in life are at this point! Probably to be more involved and spend more time doing it and responding to calls.

Favorite part of volunteering? Definitely the people I’ve met and the free food!

Most challenging part? Learning something completely different that I’m not familiar with, and also my feeble arms.

Having just finished fire academy, what advice would you give new recruits? Expose yourself to as much information and knowledge as you can, which I should probably apply to myself too. 

Is there anything you would tell your past self now that you’re through all the training? It’s a lot of time commitment but it’s definitely worth it. 

What is the most valuable trait for someone to have? Working well with others.

What do you think you bring to the department? Probably having a good attitude towards everything.

Who do you look up to? Lieutenant Long. 

Fave hazard/call type? I don’t really know yet, but probably Hazmat: a BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion) would be pretty interesting to respond to.