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6A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, July 17,2019
Josh needs a job: Paramedic
Photos by Joshua Demarest Dawson County News
Paramedic Justin Mitchell checks the equipment and medication in the ambulance known as 'Med 2' at the beginning of his shift.
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The Station 2 fleet stands assembled and ready for a call.
By Joshua Demarest
jdemarest@dawsonnews.com
It was a somber Friday
morning when I pulled
into Dawson County
Emergency Services
Station 2. The sun was
having trouble rising
above the remnants of the
rainstorm that had blown
through the night before,
and I was nervous.
There. I said it. I was
nervous.
I had been planning this
monthly column for a
while where I go out and
spend a day trying out
different jobs around
Dawson County, and
when Dawson County
Fire and Emergency
Services Director Danny
Thompson asked if Ed
like to go on a ride-along
with his crew, it had
seemed like a good way
to start it off at the time.
But now I was here,
and that little voice in my
head was asking if I was
really cut out for this.
It didn’t take long to
find out.
It was shift change
when I got there, and I
fell in with paramedic
Justin Mitchell. He was
an immediate presence in
the room, loud and
humorous in direct con
trast with many of the
others in the garage, who
had just finished a
24-hour shift.
Mitchell took me
through the process of
checking the ambulance
to make sure the equip
ment was in proper order.
We had barely finished
when our first call came
in.
I put on my standard-
issue Dawson County
Emergency Services vest
and jumped in the back,
camera in hand. As the
ambulance sped out of
the station, my stomach
tightened into a knot of
anticipation.
The scene wasn’t pret
ty. There was a single
motorcycle crash on 400,
right by the entrance for
Chick-Fil-A and Home
Depot, and the injuries
were bad, though thank
fully not life-threatening.
Mitchell, the paramedic
on the scene, immediately
took control of the first
responders and EMT
Mike O’Connor, directing
medical care and admin
istering medication. It
was fascinating to see the
immediate change in
Mitchell, who had been
joking and laughing just a
few minutes before. Now
he was all business.
I was surprised by how
much went into a scene
like this — multiple
police units from Dawson
County Sheriff’s Office
and Georgia State Patrol
had responded first and
were directing traffic and
gathering statements. The
fire truck from station
two had arrived just
ahead of us, and the
amount of activity was a
little overwhelming.
Not wanting to be in the
way, I stood on the out
skirts of the area, watching
as Mitchell and O’Connor
loaded the injured motorist
onto the stretcher and into
the ambulance. This time I
sat up front with O’Connor
as we drove toward
Northeast Georgia Medical
Center in Gainesville, the
closest hospital with a trau
ma center.
At 7 months on the job,
O’Connor is one of the
newer faces on the team.
This was his second
straight 24-hour shift, as
he was covering for
someone who needed the
day off.
As we drove, I watched
the screen that showed
what was going on in the
back. On the ride to the
hospital, Mitchell was on
the phone with the doctor
at Northeast Georgia, col
lecting patient informa
tion, and providing medi
cal care.
After dropping the
patient off, I rode in the
back and listened as
Mitchell and O’Connor
jammed out to Credence
Clearwater Revival.
When we stopped, we
were at Chick-Fil-A for
breakfast.
That’s life for the
EMTs, firefighters and
paramedics in Dawson
County — everybody is
joking around and having
fun until duty calls, and
then it’s a pressure cooker
of literal life-and-death
decisions.
“We have to be able to
decompress,” explained
O’Connor. “If we didn’t,
it would eat you up.”
When asked about his
favorite part of the day,
Mitchell also touched on
the time he gets to decom
press with his coworkers.
“As a shift, that’s our
station, after dinner we all
sit down and have what’s
called Cigar Time,”
Mitchell told me, laugh
ing. “It’s spending time
with these guys, sitting
down as a family and just
spending time eating din
ner and smoking cigars.”
The thing that caught
me the most off-guard
about my time with the
Dawson County Fire and
Emergency Services team
was how much of a tight-
knit team they really are.
Their job is tougher than I
can imagine. In the
course of a single shift,
they may be responding
to a fatal car crash, deal
ing with a child’s head
trauma, running towards a
burning building, helping
educate parents or care
givers on proper proce
dure for minor medical
issues, and saving some
one’s life. That’s more
life-and-death scenarios
than many of us will have
in an entire lifetime, all in
one day.
Plus, these men and
women are charged with
interacting with members
of the community on
what may be the worst
day of their lives. Very
rarely are ambulance
rides remembered fondly.
But they come back every
third day to do it again.
I’ve worked in many
jobs in my life — from
security to waiting tables,
from theater sound design
to zoo animal handler —
and I went into this expe
rience thinking I had seen
a lot. But nothing pre
pared me for witnessing
how much courage and
heart our paramedics,
firefighters and EMTs put
into their job.
As a man who makes a
living with words, it’s
exceedingly rare that I find
myself speechless. Just ask
my wife. But words genu
inely fail me when I try to
express how grateful I am
to have gotten the chance
to ride along with the men
and women of Dawson
County Fire and
Emergency Services. All I
can say is thank you.
They always say not to
meet your heroes, but I
disagree. Meeting these
guys was one of the most
humbling and powerful
experiences of my life,
and they are definitely my
heroes.
Editor's Note: This is the first
in a monthly series of col
umns where Josh Demarest
goes around town shadow
ing and trying his hand at
various jobs. If you have a
job that you'd like to see
Josh try, send us an email at
editor@dawsonnews.com.
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