05/21/2026
🚨🚑EMS WEEK🚑🚨
The next paramedic we want to recognize for EMS week is-
👉Christina Gibbs NRP, FP-C👈
🚁What made you want to become a paramedic?
- The short version…My sister sustained significant trauma from an accident involving a drunk driver. Of my immediate family, I made it to the ER first, and I felt completely ignorant and helpless. I didn’t want to ever feel that way again, so I knew I wanted to do something in emergency medicine.
🚁How long have you been in EMS?
- 17 years. 10 on the flight line.
🚁What’s your favorite part of the job?
- The office view is pretty great sometimes, but the education is second to none.
🚁What’s the hardest part of working in EMS?
- The older I get, the more I want to capitalize on my time off. Family is aging, kids are growing, and you just realize how much you’ve missed over the years.
🚁What’s one call you’ll never forget?
- Flying back across the Ponchartrain at midnight on New Years. I still have trouble wrapping my head around the insane amount of fireworks. Words will never do it justice. I felt really lucky to get to see that.
🚁What’s the best advice you’ve received in EMS?
- It may not be advice as much as it is just one of the “EMS Laws,” but If the patient tells you they’re dying, they probably are.
🚁What’s something people misunderstand about paramedics?
- The sheer amount of education, and continuing education, it requires to do this is probably far more than you would think. It’s not just a ride to the hospital, it’s a mobile emergency room. I just think Paramedics are generally looked over and their true level of expertise, education, and adaptability is misunderstood and grossly undervalued.
🚁What motivates you on difficult shifts?
- I think it’s just the possibility that, at any given moment, we could be dispatched to a patient where our treatment and rapid transport can truly make a measurable difference.
🚁What’s one skill every great paramedic should have?
- Honestly, the ability to listen. Whether that’s listening to your gut, the patient(s), their family, or simply to listen to what they’re NOT telling you.
🚁What’s your proudest moment in your career?
- Honestly, I think “delivering” babies are up at the top. The patients did most of the work, but It’s pure panic followed by elation. There was a lot of crying. (May or may not have been the newborns🤷🏼♀️) Something about being there in that moment to witness a new life just feels surreal.
🚁Energy drinks or coffee?
- You know I don’t walk into work without an energy drink😂
🚁What’s one message you’d share with new EMS providers?
- Never stop learning. You do a disservice to your patients, and to yourself, by not continuing to grow. Don’t be afraid to ask questions! And just know, we ALL get humbled, and while it doesn’t exactly make for the funnest time, it’s both necessary and beneficial. Just take ownership of it, learn the “why,” and then apply it moving forward!
🚁Tell us one fun-fact about yourself or what you think your coworkers would say about you!
- Fun fact…My dad and my twin brother are also Paramedics. I don’t know if we’re competitive, crazy, or trying to start our own Ambulance service 🤷🏼♀️
