Boarding an ambulance in his EMT uniform, Timmy Talir, senior, readies the medical equipment needed to treat his next patient. Even though he is still training, he is treated just like any other EMT would be.
Talir said he was inspired to become an EMT from his close family friend who is the fire marshal at the Creve Coeur Fire Department. He will be taking a class in the summer to continue training.
“Just recently, I [have] wanted to become a [EMT], and then become a critical care medic.” Talir said. “I’ve been interested in medicine since I was a little kid.”
One of Talir’s closest friends, senior Johann Holekamp, met him in middle school. He is training with him to become an EMT.
“We’ve gotten a lot closer [overtime],” Holekamp said. “We feel like we’re always going to be friends, we’ve known each other for too long.”
Talir played varsity football from freshman to junior year. Social Studies teacher Curt Mueller was one of his coaches.
“The biggest thing that stood out [to me] about Timmy [was] that he was always gonna do his job to the fullest ability,” says Mueller. “He showed his teammates what it was like to work hard.”
Talir says EMTs provide basic life support for patients. They only do non-invasive tasks such as providing medications for them, as well as certain medical procedures.
“Once you do paramedic school, you can start doing [intubations] and do Tracheostomies,” Talir said. “Beyond that, you can start doing surgeries in the back of the ambulance.”
Mueller says his best memory with Talir was watching him lead football practice and drills. He says that Talir was never too boisterous towards his teammates.
“ [He was always] showing his teammates [how to] do the [drills]. He did a great job with that in practice. “
Talir said one of his biggest struggles with becoming an EMT is knowing he can’t help every patient he has. He said if an EMT administers too much or too little of a medication to a patient, they could die.
“Unfortunately, that’s just part of [being an EMT]”, Talir said. “I like being able to help people and [seeing] that what I’m doing right now has an impact on their life.”
