EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of the Press & Dakotan’s monthly series spotlighting occupations, tasks and duties in our coverage area.

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When she was growing up, Jamie Freeman always knew she wanted to work in the medical field.

“I was working at a hospital in Sioux Falls, and I decided I wanted to work in an ambulance,” she said. “This is the medical path I chose and, so far, its worked out really well.”

Freeman currently serves as a senior paramedic for the Yankton County EMS.

She said training to become a paramedic is ongoing and is very detailed.

“People first become a basic, which is a 4-5 month class,” Freeman said. “After that, they can choose to become a paramedic, which is either a one or two-year program.”

She decided to go beyond both of these programs and become a critical care paramedic.

“This is a level above a paramedic, but not quite a flight paramedic,” Freeman said. “You learn a lot more details and a lot more about difficult cases then other paramedics will.”

She added that every month, paramedics for Yankton County have training nights and every two years, paramedics must be recertified statewide and nationally, requiring more than 150 hours of training and coursework.

EMS members in the area have been raising awareness about the importance of paramedics during EMS week, which is from May 19-25.

As part of the events this week, officials gave away lifejackets for children, held water safety classes and hosted an AED clinic for community members and businesses in the area.

They will also honor an EMS member with the Harold Weiland Award next week.

“Harold Weiland was an EMT here that passed away several years ago, and his wife wanted to do something to honor him,” Freeman said. “Someone from the service will be nominated for going beyond their duty. The winner will receive a plaque and a first aid bag for their car.”

Freeman said she enjoys a lot about being an EMT, but especially likes not having to work a desk job.

“I like the freedom of being an EMT,” she said. “I love my job and don’t ever want to do anything else. Although I have some freedom, there is a lot of multi-tasking, having to think on your feet, needing to be responsible and quickly assessing situations.”

Freeman has worked in Yankton for the last six years, but has worked as a medic for a total of 12 years.

She said the job can be stressful, especially with the long shifts she is required to work.

“I’ll work a 12-hour shift at the station, and then go home for another 24-hour on-call shift,” Freeman said. “After that, I’ll come back to the station, so you’re really on for 48 hours.”

She added that sometimes paramedics could be running on calls during their entire shift.

“With summer coming, it will get even more busy,” Freeman said. “Some days we’ll only run a few calls, others can run five or more in a shift. If we have to make a transfer to Sioux Falls, that will take four hours, too.”

She said the adrenaline kicks in when a call comes in.

“If we’re at the station, we will hear a tone (of radio dispatchers) telling us what the call is, the address and some details about what is going on. Sometimes as we get going, they’ll be able to give us more information if they have any,” Freeman said. “If it’s an accident, we’ll get pre-arrival instructions from the fire department, including where to park, what’s going on and how many victims their are.”

Freeman added that when paramedics arrive on an in-house call, they’ll find out why they called, what’s going on and go from there.

“There are protocols we follow for chest pain to be able to get the person care before we arrive at the emergency room,” she said. “With a heart attack, if you call the ambulance, we can give you drugs, an EKG (and transmit that to the ER), start an IV and draw blood. The minute you arrive in the ER, they have a care plan for you so it’s not delayed at all.”

Freeman said she hopes more people call 911 when they feel as if something is not quite right, rather than drive themselves to the emergency room.

“The first few hours of a stroke or heart attack we can give life-saving drugs,” she said. “If you don’t call and decide to drive yourself to the ER, you’ll be out of the realm to get medications. I wish a lot of people knew that we don’t just drive to the ER — we start your care, meaning less time in the ER and a faster recovery.”

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at   twitter.com/andrewatwal