Connecticut Teens Get a Taste of Emergency Work
Two area teens are learning that giving up their weekend nights to work 12-hour shifts as medical response technicians can be rewarding.
Jan. 23--DERBY -- Two area teens are learning that giving up their weekend nights to work 12-hour shifts as medical response technicians can be rewarding.
Longtime friends Jim Anderson of Derby and Alex Neuendorf of Shelton, both 15, have been on call Friday and Saturday nights with Storm Engine Company Ambulance and Rescue Corps since September.
They passed the state Department of Public Health's written and practical exams in September and volunteered as MRTs at a benefit softball tournament the next day, said Pam Neuendorf, Alex's mother.
Corps President Tom Lenart said he enjoys watching the teens learn. "We like having them around," he said. "Every kid should do this," Lenart said. "They can learn about emergency (response) work and life and everything in between. They can get an idea if they are going to like this work or not."
Jim said, "It's fun knowing you can do something that other people can't do."
Alex said the best part so far was putting his cardiopulmonary resuscitation training to good use.
He said he resuscitated a man who had stopped breathing when he and Jim were carrying the man to the ambulance in a stair chair.
The teens assist the emergency medical technicians on calls, and when all is quiet, they do maintenance jobs at the Olivia Street headquarters, Jim said.
"After a call, we restock (medical supplies) and clean the ambulance," Alex said.
Jim got involved with the ambulance corps through Alex, who is a third-generation emergency responder.
Alex is walking in his parents' footsteps. Mark Neuendorf is a paramedic, and Pam Neuendorf is an EMT.
Mark's mother, Margo Neuendorf, was an MRT in Derby, and Pam's father, Jim Gosselin, volunteered as an MRT in Clinton.
"You don't meet many 15-year-old boys who want to do this," Pam Neuendorf said. "They both have come a long way. They have matured a lot in the months since they started."
Jim's mother, Marie Anderson, said the boys often talk about their work on the ambulance, and they look forward to their shifts. "All they need are their drivers," she said. The boys go out on calls with two experienced corps members.
Mark Neuendorf said usually a parent would be concerned to hear their child's name on the scanner. He said when he hears Alex's name over the air, it's because his son is working on the ambulance.
The boys, who attend Emmett O'Brien Technical High School in Ansonia, both plan to further their training.
O'Brien school nurse Sue Hoffert said she likes the idea that the boys are certified in first aid. "The more hands the better," she said, adding she hoped they would never have to be put to work in an emergency at the school.
Hoffert said she's proud of the boys. "What they are doing shows their responsibility and maturity," she said.
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