Jerry Garrett and Starlinne Sullivan Memorial EMS Scholarship

EMS personnel are usually the first responders to a scene. They arrive before police, before fire fighters in some cases. So many lives depend on quick thinking and staying calm in a crisis. I have been working in EMS already since I graduated high school. I see a lot of regular clients who have no other transportation for dialysis and the emergency room other than me. I have gotten to know them on a first name basis, and they know me as well. I have held the hands of those who feel they have no where to turn, and I have hugged those whose family members did not have a successful resuscitation. Ive talked people out from under beds who were having a break with reality. Ive sat in the back of the truck and listened to tracks on my phone with patients to either make them feel better, or calm them down. I finished going through Advanced EMT school just as Covid hit. Because of this, I was unable to test for almost a year. None of the testing centers were open. By the time they were open, I did not feel confident enough to try to take the test because I had only been working as a Basic EMT. The test is strictly protocol and book based, but during Covid, the book got thrown out on all levels of care. I worked all during Covid. I did not qualify to stay at home because I was considered essential personnel. I worked all during Covid, and also during that time,my grandmother committed suicide. She had been a nurse for my entire life. I hardly saw her because she was about to retire, and i was scared i would get her sick. My roomate, who had lived with me for years, and i considered my brother, died of Covid very shortly after she died. It was a very hard time. I went back to school, did the Advanced class again, and again, waited too long to test. This time, it was my own internal struggles and not a pandemic standing in my way. I am determined to take the class again, and this time, take the test. Its been so long since my last class that I have to retake it to be able to test. A lot has changed in the four years since I first went to school. I have 2 children who depend on me now, and I am the sole breadwinner in my family. I work hard so my girlfriend can spend her time with them as much as possible. Their needs come first, and it has prevented me from spending any extra money on school. And at twenty four years old, I'm too young to qualify for FAFSA on my own income, although I have supported myself, and now a family, for four years now. I would continue to work in my local area, as I have been, after I finish school. I would like to continue on to Paramedic school after working as an Advanced. I would have to get my skills as an advanced first, though. I've been a good EMT, and I think I am ready to be a good Advanced EMT. I just need some help, and I just needed some time to heal mentally, after Covid to be ready. Emergency medical technicians make less than the average person at McDonalds. I know, because I used to work at McDonalds. You have to love, really love, helping people because believe me, you aren't doing it for the money.

I live in a very rural community in small-town Alabama in a town named "Opp". Opp stands for Opportunity, and we have deemed ourself "The City of Opportunity." However, since the late 1990s, our area has been lacking in opportunity. In the late 1900's, our main employer and economic driving force, a textile mill operation, closed. Within 10 years of the first factory closing, all of the others closed as well, leaving the site abandoned, hundreds of families displaced, and a dying economy in its place. Today, our community is still struggling from this loss, and unfortunately, that impact did not skip the healthcare field. A large part of my drive for going into this field stems from the need for well-trained, compassionate providers, on every level in my community. The doctors at the ER are contracted in from out of town, as are many of the nurses. A lot of our EMS providers are coming from larger surrounding cities, as are the ambulance companies. While this does not speak to their ability as providers, I do think it makes a difference in their approach to the community members in our area. Being from this area and working in this area comes with a sort of sensitivity towards your neighbors. You are aware of their day-to-day surroundings, activities, and likely their friends and family. In a way, they are like family, like "one of your own," which means you immediately desire the best care available for them, without knowing them. That connection matters in rural healthcare. Not unlike many other healthcare professionals, personal experiences are also a huge driving force for my desire to enter this field. I have always known that I have a calling to help others, which is why I ended up with a bachelors degree in social work. However, recently, I realized that I want to help people in a different way. My grandmother fell ill, was flown to a large hospital a couple hours away, spent a week on a ventilator, in and out of ICU's, SICU's, PICU's. You name it, she was likely there for some time. The care and compassion that she received at this larger hospital was phenomenal. Everyone, from specialty doctors to CNAs to housekeeping staff, was kind, compassionate, understanding, and took the time to explain everything to our family in great detail, no matter how difficult the circumstances were. I was incredibly appreciative, but a small part of me felt sad for my hometown and sad for those who don't have the option of going to a bigger "fancier" facility. While our community is smaller and poorer than some of our surrounding communities, that is no reason why we should receive lesser healthcare. If I can turn my Basic EMT training into a Paramedic license and provide above-average healthcare to even one individual in our community, I will be making a difference. That difference is a difference that the people of my community desire and deserve. This scholarship will get me one step closer to that goal, which means our community is one step closer to well-trained, compassionate, local healthcare providers working together for this city and its people. I have always known I was meant to help others, and I would love nothing more than to serve my city and my neighbors by being a friendly face, a listening ear, or a shoulder to cry on during difficult times. I will provide unbiased, knowledge-based care to our community, while educating my patients where others have not. Thank you for your time, and thank you for your consideration.

I am 30 years old Freshman here at Wallace State with a major in Nursing. I graduated from Wallace State in May 2021 as Respiratory Therapist. I had a long journey to get to this point, from having to withdraw from nursing school for bad wrecks and the loss of my mom. I felt defeated and fought my way back and came to Wallace State and now I am here to accomplish my dream to go back to school to do nursing. I feel like God took me down a different path that led me back to nursing. My mother was a big key in my desire to major in nursing. Before my mother got pregnant with me, she was in nursing school but unfortunately after starting she had to withdraw because of her pregnancy. Watching her work as a caregiver, while helping others along with her love for the job motivated me. I watched my mother take her last breath, but unfortunately, watching nurses not know what to do also gave me the motivation to be a highly educated and capable nurse. I want to have the knowledge and skills to be able to think critically and fast because people’s lives are in your hands. I want to be able to bring comfort to families to know everything was done to help their family members. After completing the program, I want to work on the floor as a full-time RN and Flexi RRT. Using my knowledge of respiratory and ICU will help and bring me into nursing with an edge up. I will be able to relate to different fields of study. I want to help educate and help with the relationship with RN to RT relationship. Bringing in experience with both I can educate both about the need to work together and how essential we both are. There is some division between the two and I want to help to educate and correct it. I think sometimes they forget we are a team, and we need each other. I would love to educate different hospitals and hold summits to bring the two groups together. I also want to contribute my knowledge and educate people about respiratory diseases like COPD, CHF, and asthma. I would love to have health summits in my hometown and in my home state to educate them on their health and prevent respiratory diseases. More importantly, help others to get better and save lives. I have an uncle that has COPD that is struggling and just doesn’t get the importance of managing the disease. It saddens me because I see the disease can cause long-term issues and death. My mother was diagnosed with CHF before her death in November 2022, which helped lead to her unexpected death. There is just not enough information out there locally or resources for low-income people. People with these diseases need to be educated more and know the importance of managing their diseases and the disease process. I want to help save as many people as possible and educate them. With this scholarship, I could focus on completing the coursework and studying. I have no extra funds due to being maxed out of financial aid along with paying the remaining balance of my mom’s funeral and taking up the responsibility of my family that my mother was handling.

I am an undergraduate student attending community college during the fall semester of 2022. While I was in high school, I was blessed with the opportunity to enroll in Career and Technical Education programs such as JROTC and Health Science: Medical Professions. My greatest aspiration is to pursue a goal in nursing. There are several reasons for my motivation to become a nurse, but I am most motivated by nurses' willingness to go above and beyond for their patients. I choose to seek a career in nursing because I wanted to do something that will challenge me, interests me, and make a difference in people's lives every day. I developed a strong interest in nursing during my internship at the height of the pandemic by witnessing nurses on site involved in a wide array of patient care aspects. I had the opportunity to go around different units of the hospital to view the vast duties and responsibilities that nurses take upon themselves. I was blown away by the dedication and pleasant nature of the hospital nurses, who performed their jobs gracefully and masked their fatigue and burnout with smiles and kindness. It is in my community's best interest for me to pursue a career in nursing because it is rapidly growing with a population of much diversity. As a first-generation Hispanic American, my community needs nurses who can culturally and verbally connect and speak with Hispanic/Latino patients. I want to set an example to my community and be seen as an inspiration for people to join healthcare, especially first-generation Hispanic immigrants. A goal I set for my career is having patients' needs met, this includes but is not limited to patients who may be considered a minority- from immigrants, POC, LBGTQ, Black people, and women. Another goal I aim to achieve in my career is to always remain educated in healthcare. Healthcare is constantly changing, and I believe that a great nurse must remain educated on the subject of healthcare. Lastly, I aspire to provide patient health care excellency throughout my nursing career. I am willing to accomplish this aspiration by not only having character but by impacting patients in a positive way to surpass the care they may have expected. Health care is vital in a patient's life and can determine how stable their life may remain after receiving such care. Assisting patients beyond their needs can aid the patient in improving the conflict that may be restraining them from their own goals.