As a member of the Orange County Rescue Squad, I gained valuable experience in responding to emergency situations. I spent time training in vehicle extrication, emergency medical services, search and rescue, and dive team operations. My area of focus was emergency medical services and vehicle extrication operations.

I am interested in medicine and health care service, and I wanted to gain valuable patient care hours in emergency medicine because I hope to eventually specialize in that field.  I was also drawn to the idea of rescue in general, and saving lives in high stress situations.

Much of my time was spent in training, which is necessary for state certification in all of the emergency services the rescue squad provides.  The training can be in one or several of the services provided by the squad:   extrication (patient removal in vehicle accidents), search and rescue, emergency medical services, as well as a dive search team.  I volunteered as an emergency medical technician (basic) on regular shifts for Orange County Emergency Management.  I had one-on-one patient care as an EMT–B and I cannot begin to explain the adrenaline rush that comes with emergency medical service and the extreme satisfaction of making a difference in each patient’s life.  Weekly meetings and trainings are standard at the station located in Hillsborough.  The squad requires a minimum of 30 volunteer hours per month.  Orange County requires a minimum of 144 trainee hours on an ambulance, as well as an evaluation, before allowing a new EMT-B to ride on the ambulance.

Orange County Rescue Squad Inc.
261 South Churton Street
Hillsborough, NC. 27278-2506
Squad Office: 919-338-2840

www.orangerescue.org