For my second year service project I volunteered with the American Red Cross on the First Aid Services Team (FAST). As a member of FAST, I volunteer at various events around Ohio State and Columbus to provide first aid and emergency medical care to patrons. Some of the events I have volunteered at include basketball games, concerts, hockey games, wrestling matches, races, and more. Overall, volunteering with FAST has helped me give back to the OSU campus and our local community while also gaining clinical experience by treating patients. This volunteer opportunity has also allowed me to utilize my EMT-B certification and help lead fellow FAST members as an advanced responder during emergency situations. While a lot of my time volunteering has been spent waiting on standby, ready to respond to a call at a moment’s notice, knowing that my team and I are prepared to handle any call that is thrown at us helps me realize how important our job is because when something does go wrong, we are there to help. If we did not have the volunteers that we do and were not present at the events we serve at, minutes and even seconds could be wasted waiting for other first responders to arrive on scene, but in the event of an emergency those minutes and seconds can cost someone’s life. I never thought I would have such an amazing volunteer opportunity and while the great responsibility of caring for someone’s life can be intimidating, the moments when I have been able to keep an unresponsive woman breathing by inserting a nasal airway or stopping a girl’s head from gushing blood after being hit by a hockey puck, are incredibly rewarding and have inspired me even more to pursue a career in Emergency Medicine. I plan on continuing to volunteer with FAST until I graduate in order to gain more patient care experience, but also to give back to this community that has become my new home. By volunteering with FAST, I am one step closer towards achieving my goal of becoming an Emergency Medicine Physician.
