A shift with medic 61
ALANNA BADGLEY WAKES UP WITH A SENSE OF doom. Her alarm goes off at 4:45 a.m., but she lies there breathing until 5:15: in through her nose, and out through her mouth. Then she throws off the covers, splashes some water on her face, brushes her teeth and puts on her uniform.
The Westchester County, New York, paramedic normally has an Eggo waffle with peanut butter and Nutella for breakfast, but lately she’s too nervous to eat. Her boyfriend, Rudy Green, has packed her a jar of cut fruit and a Ziploc baggie of veggies, which is pretty much all she can stomach these days. Badgley stuffs it into her JanSport backpack and walks to the Empress Emergency Medical Services base in Yonkers, N.Y., clocking in just before 6 a.m. on April 1.
She checks her gear: intubation kits, an oxygen pressure mask, an alternative airway device. She’s been wearing the same N95 mask for two weeks. Someone squawks over the loudspeaker, calling for Medic 61. “That’s me,” she says.
Badgley, 28, is small
