Syanna Duval – Medical EMT Internship

My name is Syanna Duval and I currently hold an internship at the New Holland Ambulance station located right here in New Holland! There, I am responsible for riding along on emergency calls with the emergency medical technicians (EMTs) who offer service there. Otherwise, I am spending time with them at the station waiting for a call to come through.

Some really cool things that I’ve gotten to experience while being there are patient interactions and getting to know different patients on the “not-so-serious” calls. I’ve also gotten to pick up on some medical terminology, and machinery, and have even gotten to try some out on patients myself! On the other hand, I’ve also gotten to observe the EMTs in action on more serious calls which is so impressive because of how quickly yet efficiently they work, not to mention in a small, moving space.

I have overall grown from this experience because even though I don’t get to do a lot of hands-on activities, getting to interact with patients makes me a better person because no one is the same. Not only that, but it also gives me an opportunity to acknowledge that not everyone responds to being in medical distress the same way and it has and will continue to help me hone in on my skills of how to comfort people in different ways which will be helpful in my line of work that I wish to pursue in the future.

With that being said, when I get older I want to become a nurse and my internship is relevant to that because as stated previously, I have become more familiar with medical terminology and machinery. I also have interacted with patients which is always something anyone in any type of public service job should do and be good at. Additionally, it has influenced my career choices and goals, coming into my internship, I was hoping to figure out if I wanted to pursue emergency medicine as my nursing specialty because I didn’t really have an idea of what I wanted to specialize in yet. However, having gone this far into my internship, I believe that I will not be doing emergency medicine, and not because I don’t enjoy it, but because I have found that patient interactions have been my favorite things about my internship and I want to be able to stick with some patients and see them from when they get in and be with them until they get out and not just send them on their way after a few interactions in the ER. I also feel as though emergency medicine requires you to be very precise on a time crunch which I feel like watching the EMTs, would personally stress me out, and even though they are amazing at it, I don’t think it’s for me.

Therefore, to conclude, I am very grateful for my experience at New Holland EMS. I’ve loved the friendships I’ve built with my mentor and other EMTs. I also love never experiencing the same call twice, it adds to the excitement of every day that I am there.