Emergency! Shelter Island’s Emergency Services needs you
Shelter Island’s two young paramedics, Sean Brewer and Jessica Killoran Carr, are prepared to help you should you need medical assistance. But their main message is they need you to join the ambulance crew here, whether it’s as a paramedic, EMT, driver or helper.
The first thing Jessica Killoran Carr and Sean Brewer want you to know is that this story isn’t about them.
It’s about, they said, the community they serve as paramedics and the Shelter Island Ambulance Foundation that supported their training.
Ms. Killoran Carr and Mr. Brewer spoke about their love for the work they do and hope they can encourage others to get involved with the Shelter Island Emergency Medical Services — if not as trained paramedics or emergency medical technicians, then as ambulance drivers or helpers.
Ms. Killoran Carr, 28, completed her paramedic training last year at Suffolk County Community College and Mr. Brewer studied at Stony Brook University, graduating this year. Both are paid professionals — for work done off-Island, the ambulance squad here are all volunteers — with Ms. Killoran Carr working a regular night shift while Mr. Brewer, 25, works on a per diem basis when the need for his services arises.
For Ms. Killoran Carr was inspired to join the paramedic profession, she said, by a love of Shelter Island where, as a girl from Bayport, she spent eight summers at Camp Quinipet. One summer, she decided she didn’t want to head west, so settled on the Island and saw the Emergency Medical Services team as a way to get to know people.
It didn’t take long before she began to train as an EMT and decided to go forward as a paramedic.
Both EMTs and paramedics have to complete course work and practical training. But there are many more hours to put in studying and completing practical, on-the-job training to become a paramedic.
For Mr. Brewer, a Shelter Island native, a friend who was a volunteer firefighter kept encouraging him to join the department, something he resisted, until finally deciding the ambulance service was more attractive. First training as an EMT, he quickly realized he wanted to be able to do more, which pushed him into taking courses to become a paramedic.
Ms. Killoran Carr said if she’d been inspired earlier, she might have gone to medical school.
Mr. Brewer is planning to take nursing training beginning next year. Anything is possible for the future, he said.
“I’m not finished yet,” he added, about his medical career path.
“Once you get involved, you want to do more,” Ms. Killoran Carr said. She quotes a truism that has guided her since she started in the medical services field: “If you’re failing to train, then you’re training to fail.”
The training is time consuming and challenging, both said. For the approximately 10 months it took to complete the course work and on-the-job training, they had little time to themselves. During those 10-months, they averaged between 16 and 20 hours a week in the classroom and at least 30 hours a week on shifts, putting their book-learning to use.
Although their initial training is complete, they will always have to take courses to keep up to date with the latest techniques and equipment.
Had it not been for the Shelter Island Ambulance Foundation, both said it would have been financially impossible to take the necessary courses. Tuition is about $8,500, about half of which the foundation paid, but there are other expenses — books, materials, travel and miscellaneous expenses that add up, Mr. Brewer said.
Ms. Killoran Carr had some grant and scholarship money that was augmented by the foundation.
As important as the money was for both, the support they received from their colleagues in the Shelter Island Emergency Services unit is equally significant to their advancement, they said.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them,” Mr. Brewer said.
Is there a downside to their work?
Only the hours, Ms. Killoran Carr said. She hasn’t yet adjusted to a regular night shift and isn’t always able to get the sleep she needs during the day.
There’s an increasing need for more members, Ms. Killoran Carr said. The Island’s other trained paramedic is veteran Ben Jones who, although now in his 90s, has continued answering calls, something he has done here for 30 years.
To join the team and help the community, contact Jack Thilberg, director and chief of operations at 749-1308, or email him at [email protected] .
