Nicole Gullickson, NRP, EMS Manager, Amery Area EMS and North Land Municipal Ambulance

Years in your current role and in the EMS field all together

23 years in Emergency Medical Services (EMS); EMS Manager since 2004 with Amery Area EMS and January, 2020 with North Land Municipal Ambulance

I chose to work in EMS because….

I wanted to be a 911 Dispatcher.  I thought the experience in EMS would help me achieve that goal.  However, I fell in love with it and never looked back. The ability to hold someone’s hand, give a hug, or provide medical care is very rewarding.

I chose to become a PECC because….

For over the last 12 years I have provided car seat checks for parents as a car seat safety technician, presented safety topics to the 4th Graders, helped with the bicycle rodeo, participated in mock car crashes and talked with the driver’s education classes each summer at the local high school. So signing up to be the PECC felt like a natural fit.

My favorite part about working with children is….

Knowing that the work I am doing is going to reduce injury and/or death.  I feel it is important to take the time now to educate children and parents rather than get that call every EMS dreads for an injured child.

The most rewarding part of my job is….

Making sure the patients feel safe and cared for.

One of my favorite memories of working in EMS is….

A few years into my career, it was probably about February, dead of winter.  The call came in during the middle of night for a man that fell out of a second story window.  I remember wondering how and why someone would be falling out of window at this hour. We arrived on scene, the house was dark.  We verified the address with dispatch. A law enforcement officer was walking around the house, when he saw us he shrugged his shoulders because he didn’t find anyone. The snow was about 12-18 inches around the perimeter of the house. We didn’t see any foot prints or what would look like a body print in the snow. Law enforcement knocked on the back door.  Nobody answered, but the door was unlocked.  We all went inside.  Just then we found a bedroom with an elderly lady in bed.  She woke up with all the commotion inside her home.  She looked at us puzzled. At that moment, everyone noticed the phone beside her bed and realized she called 911 in her sleep. The conversation with her always felt to me like we were in the last scene of the Wizard of Oz.  Where Dorothy was in bed and everyone was standing around her.  We all had a good laugh, I don’t think the elderly lady believed us when we told her what she did.

If I could choose to go anywhere in the world right now I would go to the ocean because…..

I always feel relaxed and at peace when I am there.