Gloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad announced that EMT Olivia Schulz has officially met her requirements to be released from the probationary period as a firefighter.
Schulz, interested in a possible career in health care, first joined the department at the age of 16 as a part of the junior program for EMS. “When I joined, I originally wanted to do both, but when you join as a junior you can’t—you have to choose one route and I chose EMS,” she explained.
Five years later, having connected with her peers in the department, she decided to join firefighting as well. “We’re all really close family up there and they all kind of got me into it—a little bit of peer pressure, but more so, I just saw what they were doing and I still had an interest in it and wanted to get involved,” she said.
Spending some time watching from an EMT perspective at fires and fire training, she decided firefighting was something she wanted to begin pursuing. After six months of trainings, meetings, and other requirements, Schulz completed her probation period.
While on the EMT side of her work she enjoys the variety and challenge of her day, not knowing what will happen and having every day, and even every call, being unique, Schulz enjoys the physical aspect of being a firefighter and the trust it requires.
“You have to trust your body and be able to trust the people around you,” she said. “You’re in a scary situation sometimes, sometimes you really are in a burning building or in a dangerous situation … You really learn to bond with the people around you and trust them and trust yourself.”
Not only is Schulz now an EMT and firefighter, but she’s also a full-time student at CNU, studying cellular, molecular and physiological biology. “I would like to eventually be able to go to PA [physician assistant] school,” she said.
At the fire station between calls, and even in the medic unit or firetruck on the way to calls, she can usually be found flipping through flash cards, reviewing and studying.
“It helps make my studying feel really productive and makes it feel like I’m studying towards something,” she said.
And she plans to continue her fire and rescue work, even after she becomes a physician assistant. “I love being in the ambulance, I love firefighting; I don’t see me stopping that anytime soon,” she said.
Schulz helps run the GVFRS Instagram page, @gloucestervolfirerescue, which was started in September, in the hopes of giving the community an inside look at the department. Through community engagement, both on Facebook and Instagram, she hopes to see more people want to join GVFRS and grow the department.
Anyone interested in joining can visit gvfrs.org for more information.