For those of you that have known me for awhile, you know that I have a strange attraction to blood and gore and all things medical. If it weren't for all of the years of school, I would be a neurosurgeon by now!
I even started school at Colorado State as a biomedical sciences major, hoping to one day be a doctor. For a few years those dreams seemed to pass away as I entered missions and realized that just because your heart and hands are ready to do something, doesn't mean you should be out practicing medicine without the knowledge and skill set.
In December of 2008 I was sitting at the YWAM base off a small island of Colombia watching a staff member give a young boy stitches in his torn up foot. It felt like Christmas to watch her, all of my excitement and passion for the medical came boiling to the surface.
So as soon as I got home I started researching areas within YWAM and other places that I could further my education and get some training. I wish I could say that I quickly found the answers, but I didn't. Then in January of 2010 the Haiti earthquake hit and me and two other staff were on our way there having no skills just the desire to help. As I was helping debride wounds I felt that same stirring again.
A few months after being home I heard that RescueNet, YWAM's team of international disaster relief responders, would be holding a training school later on in the year. As soon as I could get my hands on an application I filled it out and sent it in, I knew that was my ticket into some of these passions I had been sitting on for years.
Sure enough, in our course we were taught the basics of search and rescue, medical, trauma counseling, and fire suppression. Since then I have been pursuing becoming a certified member of the team which means that I will be able to deploy to any disaster that the team responds to within a 24-48 time frame and be helping with the immediate needs.
I am currently pursuing EMT school to help further my skills in the medical sphere so that I will be more equipped out on the field. This will help broaden my field of scope so that I am able to assist more medically.
I am also in Phase 2 of the three phases that is takes to become a fully certified member of RescueNet. I will complete this second phase in October of this year by helping staff the same training course that I took last year. From there I will be deployable and onto completing the third and final phase of becoming a member.
RescueNet is not in replace of my involvement with YWAM Pismo Beach but simply another ministry that I am involved in. It does not consume my full time and attention as Project Sixty-One does.
I would like to encourage you to check out the RescueNet website, www.rescuenetus.org, so that you can learn more about this amazing ministry!
