Senior With a Dream Gets Real About Life After High School
Jake Horrell, senior at Souhegan High School, works with the Souhegan Valley Explorers Post and has ambitions to become an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP). He sat down with the Claw to talk about his experiences.
The Souhegan Valley Explorers Post is a program for people ages 14 through 21 looking to go into any Emergency Service profession. Horrell’s dream is to work in a fast paced environment, such as an emergency room, and says that working with the Explorers Post and doing shifts on ambulances will prepare him for all of the shock and pressure of that sort of job. Wanting to be an ACNP, he would be doing things like parliamentary assessments of medical situations in critical conditions. He has been working with the Explorers for a year and a half.
When he was a child, Horrell witnessed a car accident that made him want to go into the medical field. “My neighbor had a heart attack behind the wheel and died on impact. I saw him airlifted.” He saw how all of the EMT’s and police officers worked together so flawlessly and that’s where he decided what to do for the rest of his life. His sense of empathy helps him with interacting with patients and overall everything in the job. “Don’t focus on it. Focus on why you’re here; your patient.” ” — Jake Horrell
Though doing a job like this seems heroic, there are some things that no one should have to witness. Patching up an elderly lady’s head so her skin doesn’t fall off her skull is one of the hardest things he had to do on the job. There was a drunk driving accident where a car was t-boned a couple months ago that he got to respond to on an ambulance. On scene, there were two cars involved. Thankfully, everyone survived but haunting images still lingered. Jake’s EMT supervisor said that was the worst accident he’d seen around here in a long time.
Therapy is a common thing for people in this type of profession for seeing horrible accidents every day so going into this field requires a strong stomach and ability to cope with horrific images. Still, it is done every day by strong men and women in the Emergency Medical Service, Jake says. The patient is the most important thing in high pressure situations.
Jake enjoys biking and hiking in his free time. He’s an avid mountain biker and a certified scuba diver. In the winter months, he snowboards and hopefully will learn to ski. He also enjoys making music and fixing his motorcycle.
Jake has his EMT apprentice license and is in his second year of Medical Science class. He hopes to get his EMT license when he turns 18. After high school, he is planning on attending college to get a degree in Registered Nursing (RN) and go on to specialize in ACNP.