Choosing to volunteer at a fire and rescue squad has ultimately been one of the best decisions I have ever made. Originally, my plan was to volunteer during high school and quit once I got into college, however after spending approximately a year and a half at the station made me realize that volunteering is something I want to pursue for as long as I can. I had first heard about volunteering at a rescue station through my parents. They were attempting to persuade me to apply to volunteer, because of my heavy interest in medicine. Although I was looking for more medical knowledge, I had not entirely grasped how much medical intervention an EMT performs, and so I wasn't severely interested. It has always been in my plans to eventually make it to medical school and become a surgeon, so I hadn't really explored other healthcare fields. Eventually, I had revisited the idea of volunteering at a rescue squad because of an age requirement, and from there I learned just what it's like to be an EMT, not only technically, but also emotionally as well as mentally. As soon as I joined my volunteer squad, I eagerly jumped on the opportunity to take the summer EMT training course. I had been given the largest textbook I had ever seen, and I was a little nervous at first about how much information I needed to be an EMT, but during the class I realized that it wasn't as bad as I had thought. Several parts of the textbook I had a good general idea about because of the anatomy and physiology classes I had taken in school. During the class, I realized how diverse the backgrounds of people wanting to go into emergency medical services are. There was a handful of high school students such as I had been, there were a few college students, a couple older people, and a larger group of recent high school graduates. Some people were coming from just having children, some were just starting their careers, while others were looking for work after retiring. Although we were all so different, we all had one thing in common; and that was that we wanted to help and support people who are at one of their lowest points. When I had finally started going on the ambulance with the other EMTs, I realized just how much intervention an EMT performs. The emergency medical services personnel are the ones who ensure that people survive the way to the hospital where they can receive the proper medical care. I had volunteered in medical spaces before, such as a hospital, but I never got to witness such an insight into the inner workings of medicine as I did when I volunteered. I have seen several patients who would not have made it to the hospital if it had not been for the EMTs. I first recognized how important an EMT's job was when I had witnessed my first cardiac arrest patient. I was on a paramedic ambulance that day, so we were the ones that transported the patient. While we were taking the patient to the hospital, his blood pressure had dropped significantly, and everything seemed to become chaotic at that moment. The paramedic was urgently yet calmly administering medication, and after a couple minutes, our patients blood pressure returned to normal. In that moment I realized that the intervention of an EMT was so valuable, and I decided that I couldn't give it up. I was going to stick to volunteering as long as I can.