After going through almost three years of training, schooling, and practice, Finkle is a certified EMT paramedic. She works for many fire departments all over the state of Maryland and is admired by many patients.
Being a paramedic wasn’t her first career choice. Finkle went to college and majored in business. “I had a friend in college that wanted to fly as an EMT. She got her EMT certification and insisted that I become a member for the street experience,” Finkle said.
“As I went through the training, I started liking this more than my full time job. I just caught the bug.” She finished her training and is now a member of Abingdon, North County, Baltimore City, and Joppa’s Fire Departments.
For Finkle, a day of saving lives and helping people is just a day of work. “It makes me feel good, knowing that I’ve helped someone today but it’s different than the public thinks because it just makes us feel like we’ve done our job,” Finkle said.
She remembers several experiences very clearly. “I was sitting at work when a call came through for a roll-over. It was on I-95 and there was a mother and her four kids in the car. Everyone in the car was wearing their seatbelt and there were only minor scratches on the arms. I remember the pleasure I felt knowing that I would be able to help them and they were going to live. Also, instances of domestic violence are important to me. I like being able to help the families get back on track.”
Even though helping families in need is special to Finkle, frustration also sets in. There are patients that call for an ambulance that are referred to as “regulars” and Finkle doesn’t tolerate them. These are individuals who call for a paramedic when their problems aren’t severe or life-threatening. These include drug-addicts and people that don’t want to do anything themselves.
“They expect us to be able to do something for them when they could have prevented the problem themselves,” she said.
Reflecting back on these experiences, she thinks about many things.“Even through all this, I never thought this wasn’t a good career choice for me,” Finkle said.
Anybody can ‘catch the bug’ and want to become a paramedic, even when they haven’t even thought about being an EMT. In Finkle’s case, that’s exactly what happened.
Stephanie Laird can be reached for comment at [email protected]