ANSWERING THE CALL TO MEDICINE
A Call to Serve
I come from a family of people who serve. Whether through the ministry, the military, medicine or by volunteering in a variety of capacities, service seemed to be a hallmark for those I looked up to as a teen. My cousin Douglas, who acted as my de factor older brother, paved the way for me in many things, and it was from him that I learned about the fire department, and the brotherhood that was formed there. I joined at the age of 17 as a volunteer, and, when I graduated from high school, being a firefighter was definitely on my radar.
What wasn’ t particularly on my radar was medicine. I was not the valedictorian( or even close), and I am fairly sure that none of my high school teachers would laud my prowess in the classroom. Nonetheless, I worked hard in college, learned what I could and continued volunteering at the area fire departments both at school and at home. When I returned home, the most logical first job was working as a firefighter, and so I began a career at Harrods Creek. Through the fire department, I became an EMT. I really appreciated being able to help people through fires, medical crises, car wrecks, whatever came our way. I liked the community of firefighting, and I liked being able to help and to know that my efforts had an impact
by MICHAEL MCCALL, JR., MD on someone’ s life.
In fact, I found during my time as a firefighter that I was really drawn to the medical side. What I really didn’ t like was not knowing what happened with the people we’ d assisted with acute medical issues. With the fire department, you always knew what happened with the building – there was a resolution, good or bad. But with the medical side, I had to turn it over to EMS and then hope to hear what happened with the patient later, with no guarantee of knowing an outcome.
While I was working at the fire department, I decided to start taking premed classes in night school. The more classes I took, the more I felt like I was on the right track. I want to point out though, that I was happy in the fire department. But, at the same time, I always felt like there was something more I was supposed to do. It was a constant pull, and it was strong enough that despite the many obstacles in my way( academics, time, money, family) it was worth pursuing. It was not an easy decision, and it was not an obvious one. While it might make life easier for my family in the long run, it was not at all going to make it easy in the short run – which, if you have a young family, is all that matters in those first few years!
That’ s the thing about a calling though. I think we all want it to be an obvious and overt thing, and maybe it is for those lucky ones.
( continued on page 12) April 2025 11