Death has a specific smell, one that permeates every corner, and one that forever lives in the back of your mind. The first time I smelled it, I was standing behind my grandad in the back of the old barn watching him pull a breech calf. My four-year-old hands were shaking from the brisk fall air, and my eyes began to swell with sadness as I watched the calf lie lifeless on the ground. From that day on, I knew I wanted to save lives. If you had asked me from the age of four to fifteen what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have answered "veterinarian" without missing a beat. I had lived my whole life on a ranch and had a front row seat to the beauty and the horrific tragedies that come with it. However, over the past two years, through my job at a local boutique, community service, and school activities, I have come to realize that these tragedies don’t just occur on farms and ranches; they also happen to our friends, our family, and anyone in between. My name is Maggie Peterson, and I am from Broken Bow, Nebraska. I live about twenty miles east of town, on my family farm and ranch, and I have resided there since I was four. I am actively involved in many extracurricular activities, including speech,band, NHS, NBHS, Tri-M, FBLA, 4-H, track, and many more community service activities. This year I am interning at the local hospital, and this experience has been what has solidified my passion for healthcare. Next year, I plan to attend the University of South Dakota and major in health sciences, to eventually go on to get my Doctor of Occupational Therapy. In my small town, it is a minimum of a sixty mile drive to see a specialist such as an oncologist, orthopedic surgeon, or even receive postpartum care. And if you've ever met a rancher, they would tell you they have no time in the day to make the drive multiple times to either receive the care, or a post op checkup. The wives of farmers and ranchers are usually responsible for making these appointments and transporting either themselves, their children, or their husbands to these appointments. Taking off work to receive necessary procedures is one thing, but having to take excessive work off to drive to post op care, such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and monthly check-ups, is no longer feasible. Working in the hospital, my compassion for these patients has continued to grow. After getting my degree in Occupational Therapy, I hope to return to Broken Bow to provide rehabilitation services locally; hopefully making our busy community members more likely to receive the care they need. Our farmers and ranchers spend their lives providing care to their livestock, so it is crucial that we do everything we can to provide more convenient and affordable care for them.