Ross/West View paramedic gets Instructor of the Year Award
Jenifer Swab knew something was up. A social butterfly, she wasn't used to walking into a room at Ross/West View Emergency Medical Services Authority and seeing her friends and colleagues scatter.
A group that typically can't keep secrets well, the EMS company decided avoidance was the best way to keep quiet about the honor about to be bestowed on their training coordinator.
"Everyone in the county knew what was going on but me," said Swab, 45, of Ross. "I couldn't believe they pulled it off."
Swab received the Pennsylvania Instructor of the Year Award from the Pennsylvania Emergency Health Services Council last month. A paramedic for 26 years, Swab organizes all training and continuing education requirements for her company while planning at least one continuing education session each month open to emergency services personnel from across the county.
The Shaler native wasn't even nominated by someone from her own company. Roy Cox, patient care coordinator for Pittsburgh EMS, nominated Swab after working with her on a single program.
"I asked him, 'Why me?'" she said. "He said, 'No one else does what you do, while having five kids, four of them the same age.'"
Swab and her husband Ray are the proud parents of 6-year-old quadruplets and a 10-year-old son. She juggles life as a mom and a paramedic by working at the base just three days each week -- two 16-hour days and one eight-hour day. Of course, no week ever goes that smoothly. Her 16-hour shifts often turn into 18- or 20-hour shifts, particularly the one day each week she is on the ambulance with a partner.
Add in her duties coordinating skills reviews, proficiency trainings, certifications and continuing education for the company's 50 paramedics and EMTs, teaching first aid at local high schools and automatic external defibrillator and CPR training for area police and fire departments, and Swab's multitasking skills are stretched to the limit.
On her days running the ambulance, she'll often drop everything for an emergency, only to return five hours later, needing to pick up right where she left off.
"She pays particular attention to detail," said Bryan Kircher, director of the EMS authority that serves Millvale, Ohio Township, Reserve, Ross and West View. "Jen brings a lot to the table, and has been a tremendous asset to us."
While her organizational skills have cemented her a coordinator position at the company for the past 16 years, Swab feels completely at home on the trucks on which she first learned about emergency medicine.
Working one-on-one with a patient, Swab uses tales of her "quads" along with her sense of humor and bright smile to put patients uneasy about a trip to the hospital at ease.
"I still love being on the ambulance," Swab said. "My heart and soul are on the street. When I'm out there, I feel like I'm helping my community."
