We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jodi Barberio a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jodi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.

I was a young mother with a toddler and an infant. I operated a small daycare out of my home which allowed me to be at home with my own babies. My best friend Sabrina had a newborn with an apnea monitor. Apnea is the term used for stopped breathing. Some infants experience periods of apnea, especially during sleep, but will usually start breathing again when they are picked up or stimulated. However, just in the event baby does not immediately begin breathing again, caregivers should be able to perform CPR. My best friend wanted me to provide childcare for her newborn, but clearly I needed to update my CPR certification. The only CPR class I had previously was in high school health class. The local fire department had advertised a healthcare provider CPR class, so I signed up and went to class. The class was actually not just educational, but also a lot of fun. The firefighters and EMTs encouraged me to come out and run ambulance calls with them. So, once my own baby turned a year old, I joined the fire department as a volunteer. I started riding along on ambulance calls, and enrolled in EMT class. I was hooked. I loved running calls and helping people. I kept taking classes, and found that I really liked fighting fire as well. So, I did the fire classes also. Once my oldest daughter started kindergarten, I applied to me a career firefighter/EMT with the local county. It took me 3 tries of going through the testing process, but I finally made it. By that time I was an EMT- Cardiac Tech, which was an advanced life support certification. My first day was September 20, 2001. It was right after 9/11 had happened.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Currently, I am a paramedic, and the Operations Chief of Tri-County Transport, a small ambulance transport company. We provide medical ambulance transports which can be scheduled in advance for patients who require a stretcher, and also some emergency transports. Most of our advanced life support transports are from one hospital to another, moving patients to higher levels of care as needed.

Have you ever had to pivot?

One of my frustrations as an EMS provider was the training (or lack thereof) that we received for childbirth emergencies. Our only opportunities to see birth was in the hospital, and the only training we received was from other providers who had only experienced hospital birth. Well, in EMS, we don’t have sterile hospital rooms with an obstetrician and an operating room down the hall. I wanted and needed to learn real physiological childbirth and how to handle those emergencies outside of a hospital setting. This was especially important once the local health system started closing the labor and delivery units at their smaller hospitals, and forcing all of the mothers to birth at the larger main hospital. This meant more chances of babies being born before the mother could make it to the hospital. Another important factor, is that home birth is very common in our area for low risk healthy women attended by skilled midwives. So, I decided to get my own training separate from the EMS system. I went to work part time as a birth assistant to a local home birth midwife. Again, I started taking classes. The same thing that I was concerned about at that first CPR class was again a main focus- helping make sure babies breathe. It wasn’t my original plan, but 6 years later I had completed requirements and became a Certified Professional Midwife. I didn’t choose to stay with midwifery because emergencies in homebirth are very rare. Instead, I returned to EMS with a wealth of experience and knowledge of true physiological childbirth outside of the hospitals having attended more than 100 births. EMS is my passion, and I absolutely love teaching as well. In addition to being a paramedic, I teach local childbirth classes for EMS.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Passion. I think this applies to all first responders. It is not enough to have the knowledge, you’ve got to love it, be passionate about serving and caring for people on their worst day ever. You have to be determined to be the best provider possible for every patient.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tricounty-transport.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063840765663&mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits
Hannah Keller