“I came into the whole “EMS thing” completely by chance. The ski patrol director at Saskadena Six worked in the Norwich Fire Department with my dad. When I turned 15, she asked me if I wanted to be a junior ski patroller. I could not even drive but my parents drove me to the mountain, and I was really into it. When I graduated high school, I did full time ski patrol there for my gap year. I decided this is actually something I wanted to do.
I went and I took an EMT class from a phenomenal instructor. She was empowering and really knowledgeable. I went back to get my Advanced EMT from her then went to paramedic school. I met a friend at the paramedic school who went off and started his own EMT teaching business. He asked me if I wanted to teach an EMT class and I ended up teaching a class in Lyme through his business and it was so much fun.
Growing up here, pretty much everyone goes to college. That’s not for me. I have to do something where I am moving around. I decided that I was going to take a gap year after graduating from Hanover High. I can count on one hand the number of us that did not go to a four-year college from my high school class. Turns out I am not the most motivated student, and I did not really want to go to college. I found that if I work doing things I like, I could make enough money to stick around.
I have been a firefighter/paramedic at the fire department in Hanover for a little over six years. I also do part-time ski patrol and operate the groomer at the Dartmouth Skiway, as well teach EMS courses. I like to say I turned my gap year into a gap life. I am proud of myself for doing what works for me and ending up with a job that I really like and that allows me free time to go out and explore the world. I really believe that it is important for people to do what they want to do and not what the world tells them they have to do.
My job is one of the few jobs left that has a retirement pension system. If I work for 22 years, I am lucky to be able to retire. So, in ten years, I will probably still be right here doing exactly what I am doing now. I really like living here. There is a little bit of everything. I always like to find new stuff to do. You can ski, you can swim, you can hike, you can mountain bike, you can hang out on the water. If you get bored with whatever the season is, you wait three weeks, and it is probably gonna change into the next one.”
– Ebben Whitehair, Etna, NH
