One EMT Can Make A Difference
Firefighter EMT Travis Ulerick wasn’t looking for anything special when he decided to step up on behalf of his community. Travis just made the simple, yet profound, decision to start looking for solutions to the health care problems he faced each day as a rescuer for The Dublin Volunteer Fire and Rescue in Indiana.
Travis thought it was wrong that so many patients were unable to obtain healthcare in his system and he expressed his concerns by hosting a healthcare community discussion in his hometown. That meeting was attended by local residents, struggling to find healthcare, local physicians looking for ways to provide needed services as well as Tom Daschle and members of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Travis’s meeting has become a catalyst for important discussions about what’s wrong with health care in America yet, even he was surprised when he received an invitation to the White House for a personal sit down meeting with The President of The United States.
Not bad for a volunteer EMT. Later that day Travis would stand next to the president at his forum on health-care reform.
Community discussions like the one Travis hosted are helping politicians understand what things concern us most about health care and what we think we could do to make it better. In my travels around the internet and around our country I am bombarded with prehospital caregivers frustrated with their jobs and with the system in which they work.
I take my hat off to Travis Ulerick. If I had an EMS hero award, I’d give it to him. In fact I may just make one up in his honor. He could have sat around and complained about what was wrong with his job, but he decided to make something happen. Here’s to you Travis.
Tags: community action, EMT, healthcare reform, hero award, travis ulerick
