EMT Personal Statement

Twenty years have passed since overdoses surpassed car crashes for the leading cause of accidental deaths in Connecticut. I would spend my gap year volunteering as an EMT and jump-starting a localized, proactive effort against the opioid epidemic in Salisbury, Connecticut, where I have spent my summers since early childhood. I am not yet an EMT because of my age, but once I turn eighteen, I look forward to completing EMT Basic Training. My volunteering as a medical technician would benefit others, of course, but I would benefit as well, because I would gain first-hand experience with trauma and patient care. I am passionate about entering the medical field, and my time spent as an EMT will either confirm my ambitions or it may focus my interests away from trauma before I enroll in medical school. By volunteering I would provide assistance and relief to the EMTs in my town who are currently overwhelmed by the opioid epidemic. EMTs are now training known addicts to use Narcan, because they cannot reach everyone in time. According to a recent report on opioid abuse, over nine-hundred-and-fifteen people died in Connecticut in …show more content…
So, when a family friend lost his daughter to a heroin overdose two months, the opioid crisis became personal. The town is demographically one of the “oldest” towns in the state and the epidemic persists without any sense of urgency. Given my interest in medicine and the new, personal insight to the crisis, in addition to volunteering as an EMT, I feel compelled to use the grant money to set up interventions that promote preventative education, access to treatment, and recovery support. Few people know that alcohol and opioids are a dangerous cocktail because they can mute the part of the brain that automates breathing while sleeping. I want to spread this information in rural Connecticut so that someone might live to see another