I figured the best way to introduce myself is to tell you where I've been and how I got here. My name is Dan Campanelli and I'm a Paramedic from New York. Long Island, actually. Where's Long Island you ask? It's the little 2-county island east of the 5 boroughs. You know, the one where half of New York City's workforce comes from ? hahaha. People ask me all the time how I get into EMS as a career. Before I go any further, I'll say this only once...it's not for the money. I work for pride, not a paycheck. I'm also a volunteer firefighter/paramedic where I live.
Rather than bore you with details of my early life, I'll just say this...I was a miracle baby, beat the odds of 5 to 1 survival at the age of 3 months. That's my main reason. I give back to the world that saw fit to keep me in it. My childhood was rough. I was bullied, teased, ridiculed because I never stood up for myself. I survived all my schooling somehow and by the time I was 22, I had a college degree and I was already and Emergency Medical Technician. By 2005, I had a full-time job with FDNY EMS in Manhattan. More on those times later, film at 11. By 2008 I was a Critical Care EMT, my first taste of Advanced Life Support. That's when I realized this is what I love to do. At first it was a side-job. Then it became I calling. Last year I took the ultimate step by becoming a Paramedic, the highest level of prehospital care the state can offer.
I will never claim to have "seen it all". Though I have seen a lot of what this profession has to offer. The excitement and unpredictability is what brings me back for more. Adrenaline junkie? Sometimes, but mostly it's about just getting the job done and moving on to the next call. I've taken my lumps and gone down the roads of life, and I'm not even 30 years old yet. The ride has been rough, at times downright depressing, but here I am in the flesh, doing my thing. Along the way, friends have come in and out of my life like bubbles in a glass of sods. What's in my future? Only God knows. But I'll tell you one thing, the present is exactly that...a present.
Rather than bore you with details of my early life, I'll just say this...I was a miracle baby, beat the odds of 5 to 1 survival at the age of 3 months. That's my main reason. I give back to the world that saw fit to keep me in it. My childhood was rough. I was bullied, teased, ridiculed because I never stood up for myself. I survived all my schooling somehow and by the time I was 22, I had a college degree and I was already and Emergency Medical Technician. By 2005, I had a full-time job with FDNY EMS in Manhattan. More on those times later, film at 11. By 2008 I was a Critical Care EMT, my first taste of Advanced Life Support. That's when I realized this is what I love to do. At first it was a side-job. Then it became I calling. Last year I took the ultimate step by becoming a Paramedic, the highest level of prehospital care the state can offer.
I will never claim to have "seen it all". Though I have seen a lot of what this profession has to offer. The excitement and unpredictability is what brings me back for more. Adrenaline junkie? Sometimes, but mostly it's about just getting the job done and moving on to the next call. I've taken my lumps and gone down the roads of life, and I'm not even 30 years old yet. The ride has been rough, at times downright depressing, but here I am in the flesh, doing my thing. Along the way, friends have come in and out of my life like bubbles in a glass of sods. What's in my future? Only God knows. But I'll tell you one thing, the present is exactly that...a present.
No comments:
Post a Comment