CARLISLE, Pa. — Emergency medical services, or EMS, are usually the first group to respond to any medical emergency.
However, local first responders in south central Pennsylvania said they've seen a significant shortage of people interested in joining EMS teams.
FOX43's Tyler Hatfield joined Cumberland County Goodwill EMS in Carlisle to learn how and why they do what they do for their community.
“One of the cool things about being an EMS is that no two days are the same," said Nathan Harig, assistant chief of administration at Cumberland Goodwill EMS. "That's just the nature of how emergencies happen.”
Chief Harig said the ambulances offer many amenities to patients that may surprise first-time riders.
“This is an emergency room on wheels," said Harig. "We can bring everything that is necessary to save your life in the field to you.”
Those necessities include heart monitors, medications, ventilators and other life-saving equipment.
But getting to the scene is one thing. When they arrive to a medical emergency, crews never know what to expect.
“How am I going to make sure that in a chaotic scene when it's someone's worst day, and they've called 911?" said Harig. "How do I bring that stability, that peace and that order to that situation?”
Chief Harig sent Tyler through their training course they have onsite to learn high performance CPR at Cumberland Goodwill EMS.
Harig said this training course helps new and veteran crew members learn to bring order to the chaos.
“They're making sure that they're doing their job to the best of the ability," said Harig. “If we don't do the right things for that patient, we can cause them significant harm.”
Chief Harig said this job requires an enormous amount of teamwork when crews are out on scene.
“It's a trust-based relationship with your partners, because they have your back and they're the ones that are going to be saving you if you have an emergency," said Harig. "It's a very intimate partnership that most of them have.”
But building relationships doesn't stop with your team. Chief Harig said crews need to connect with patients in order to aid them through a traumatic experience.
“One of the most critical things that we tell people is your ability to relate with another person is going to be your strongest asset as an emergency medical provider,” said Harig.
Cheif Harig said having that impact on the community is why he and his team keeping coming back.
“There's a group of people out there that say, 'yes, that is something that I would like to do,'" said Harig. "So people can have more birthdays, people can have more weddings, people can have more events. You will not find any job that's as rewarding."
Many EMS training courses can be found in south central Pennsylvania. Click here for more information.