MCF&R hires first female EMT

Asher, 46, an EMT Intermediate, only briefly chafed at the label, but then, “I got to thinking, you know what? My proudest accomplishment in life so far is being a mom and raising two great kids who turned into amazing adults. I think the mom vibe comes in handy when caring for patients. So I’m OK with having the mom vibe in the station.”

Besides, she said, several of her “phenomenal” co-workers “are my kid’s ages, and one of them even went to school with my kids.”

Not only is she the first permanent full-time female to work on the line (there have been two temporary full-time female firefighters before), but she’s also part of the first group of MCFR employees to serve solely in a medical response capacity. Firefighters have dual roles: Firefighting and medical response.

The crews Asher is part of are called “single-role” staff, and they work in pairs, one paramedic and one EMT. Asher was named to one of the first of three teams last November with the start of the program.

Single-role teams are growing in popularity nationwide, and their task is to keep firefighting personnel more available to fight fire.

The “single role” medical-only teams are the first to roll on a medical call. If more help is needed, which is often the case, then firefighter/paramedics also respond.

Asher, who has two adult children and lives in Sherman County with her husband, Rod, grew up in the volunteer firefighting world. She went on calls with her dad as a kid, back before regulations tightened, sitting in the truck and watching as they fought fire.

She had volunteered as an EMT in Sherman County for five and a half years before she was hired at MCFR. She still volunteers with North Sherman County Rural Fire Protection District.

“I never imagined I would have a job as an EMT. Until recently, paid positions were generally for Paramedic level providers. I always said I’d love to be paid for what I love doing,” she said.

David Jensen, assistant fire chief at MCFR, said, “Amy has been a tremendous addition to the MCFR family. She adds so much more than just her EMS skills to our organization. Her balance and perspective are unique and a welcome addition to the MCFR culture.”

She’s a lot busier at MCFR than previous years in Sherman County, of course, and has learned a lot as she’s worked with various paramedics who each bring their own experiences to the job.

She’s seen a lot more cardiac arrest calls than she anticipated. Some are related to narcotic use and overdoses. In the instances where CPR is happening, the paramedic will be the primary provider and administer medications including Naloxone, generic for Narcan, an overdose-reversal drug. Paramedics have the ability to provide a higher level of care than an EMT Intermediate but there are typically going to be six medically trained responders working on the patient.

When asked what an advantage to being a female EMT is, she didn’t feel there were a lot of differences. One advantage she came up with was doing EKGs on women, which involves sticking several wire leads on the bare chest.

There are occasionally circumstances when a female patient may just be more comfortable with a female provider, she said.

She has had several people who have used the ambulance service in the past comment on there now being a lady working on the ambulance. She tells them she tries to be a lady, but quips it isn’t always easy in the middle of the night.

When it comes to calls with kids, especially boys, “They would rather have the cool fireman take care of them rather than the mom-looking lady,” Asher said with a chuckle.

The medical call volume for a typical 12-hour shift averages around six calls with some of the past few weeks of summer being much higher. That does not include the fire calls or public assistance, which are handled by the firefighter/paramedics. When they aren’t responding to calls, everyone stays busy charting, training, or doing cleaning and maintenance around the station. The station is clean and tidy, she said, and everybody pitches in to keep it that way.

The crew is a family, she said; “We look out for each other.” As a new EMT Intermediate when she started at MCFR, she was trained to start an IV but hadn’t had a lot of practice. Two of the guys, on different occasions, “just sat down and gave me their arm and said, ‘Here, give me an IV.’

“Everyone is very willing to help out like that,” she said. She gets to watch some of the paramedic-level practice and training that is ongoing at the station. This helps her understand more of what they do and how she can best help them in different situations.

It took a bit of adjustment having a female in the ranks. When the guys come sliding down the pole and run to change into their gear for a fire, she has occasionally seen a few of them in their thigh length underwear. This is nothing new to her since she has been around fire stations her whole life. “I don’t think it’s a big deal. They are getting ready to do their job, but it may have caught a couple of them off guard as they realized I was there.”

As far as the uniforms for the single role personnel, they wear special uniform pants that aren’t fully waterproof, but do repel liquid. They’re stiff and hot, but in an ambulance, they are “in a very small compartment with a lot of potential for body fluid.” With those pants, she said, “I can go change and clean up and not feel like I’ve been peed on.”

Asked about the gross factor, she said during a call, “you don’t really think about gross, you’re just there to help people with their medical problem, I mean, no, I don’t want to be vomited on. I’ll do everything I can to not be in the path of whatever is coming.

“It’s like that mom thing, when your kids are sick, you don’t go, ‘Gross, get away from me.’ You do whatever you can to make them feel better. It’s the same thing. Afterwards, you might say, ‘That was gross.’”

They always wear protective gear and take what are called universal precautions. That means assuming everyone you meet is infectious. “It could be airborne or bloodborne. It could be TB, HIV, or coronavirus, you just don’t know.”

Her first months were tough finding her groove, but everyone was supportive and helpful. Now, she feels settled in to her role. At one time the schedule had her working up to 72 hours a week but there have been some changes and they generally work 56-hour weeks on average.

There is downtime and joking — “We give each other a hard time” — but when the call goes out, they are serious.

Her call volume is so much higher than it is as a North Sherman County Fire Department volunteer, which she still does, that she ends up going on a lot more emotionally tough calls.

She recounted a stretch of “not good outcomes” on some calls for two or three days in a row at MCFR. She’d done CPR on five patients in her five years working in Sherman County, and had done five in just three months at MCFR.

With Sherman County, after a bad call, you had time to decompress, she said. “Here you have to get ready to go out on another call.”

It was a struggle in the beginning to handle her emotions on those types of calls. “I didn’t want the guys to see me cry, I am a crier. When I did cry, it was nothing but support and understanding. The people I work with are good, genuine, kind people who care.”

She has also been impressed with the cooperation and mutual respect between the fire personnel and The Dalles Police Department, Wasco County Sheriff’s Office and Oregon State Police. “Working together has been easy and enjoyable. I have seen so much compassion and respect come from law enforcement to the citizens they are trying to help when we are all on a scene together. “

When she first considered the job, she knew she had to pass a physical test, which included dragging a dummy and deadlifting 120 pounds, walking backward about 15 feet, setting it down and picking it back up and walking forward again with it.

“I’m glad I made it through. I had a desk job for more than a decade and had not worked on my physical fitness. There were a lot of prayers,” she quipped. “I am thankful to be a part of pioneering this new program at MCFR.”