After Covid I joined a volunteer fire and EMS company. They paid for my Fire 1&2, EMT, Instructor 1, and Officer 1. All nights and weekends only. EMT was like 4 months every other Saturday.

EMT was a challenging class because a few of us were competing for highest grade.

I don't do too many EMT calls these days, most of my volunteering is as a lieutenant on the fire side.

I'm very glad I did both, it's been fantastic for my chronic anxiety. I've seen some upsetting things but then I take a break for a bit to process it in therapy. There is a huge need for volunteer emergency response in the suburbs and farther out. If you are interested definitely check it out. If you find a station that's got too many assholes just find another one. Also the people I thought were the worst assholes turned out to just be a little prickly to newcomers and now we are always going out to dinner and renfaires and stuff. Heck my current year long TTRPG game is all folks from the station.

I am also a thru-hiker so I'm very interested in getting into wilderness search and rescue in the future.

I don't think I could ever do emergency response as a career, but I love volunteering. Nothing makes me more appreciative of getting to sign into work with a nice cup of tea and soothing music.