News Photo by Reagan Voetberg Paramedic Nick Adamiak sits in an ambulance at the Alpena Fire Department on Thursday.

ALPENA — Nick Adamiak, a newly licensed paramedic, provides insight into what it takes to be a team member at the Alpena Fire Department, which doubles as an Emergency Medical Services team.

Adamiak recently earned his National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians/Michigan Paramedic license after completing the MyMichigan EMS Paramedic program that began in August 2023, according to a City of Alpena Facebook post.

To complete the program, Adamiak spent 18 months studying and training to earn around 750 clinical hours, he said. He also earned 250 hours externing, plus hours of class time, for a total of around 1,500 hours across those 18 months. Then, he had to take and pass his final exam.

Before working at the fire department, Adamiak went to college but decided that his course of study was not what he wanted to do. He worked in construction for a while before being hired at the fire department as an auxiliary member.

Members of the auxiliary provide extra assistance for large fires and other emergencies and events, the News reported previously.

As an auxiliary, Adamiak received fire training as well as Emergency Medical Technician training. EMT training is a prerequisite for the paramedic exam, he said.

Once he completed training, Adamiak was officially hired as fire department personnel. He then had three years to earn his paramedic license, which the department offers to pay for.

“The opportunity was there, I took it, I found out that I really loved doing this…and that’s just kind of where the path has led me at this point,” he said.

His day typically starts at 7 a.m. Personnel meet downstairs in the fire department for the shift change and do a roll call. Then, the new shift checks the fire trucks and ambulances and makes sure that everything’s there that needs to be there, Adamiak said.

They then do morning chores like cleaning bathrooms or the kitchen before eating breakfast. After that, it’s just normal shift activities.

“Whether it’s training or other projects around the station, you know, we do like a lot of day-to-day maintenance on our own stuff…really like between all that is just calls,” he said.

After 5 p.m., personnel have free time to watch the news or work out at the department’s fitness center. Then, they lay down for the night and start the process all over again the next morning.

“And, hopefully, not get a ton of calls through the night, hopefully, get a little bit of sleep,” he said.

As a new medic, Adamiak responds to all the calls that come to the department to gain experience in the field. He is involved in a mentoring field training officer program where he performs as a paramedic under the oversight of a training mentor.

Adamiak will work under multiple mentors to gain their perspectives, he said.

He loves working at the station and found it difficult to pinpoint his favorite part of the job.

“I love the people that I work with, everybody here is really great, they’re open, they’re friendly,” Adamiak said.

As for the job itself, he enjoys just being able to help people.

“There’s some (calls) where it’s like ‘Ah, I didn’t make a huge difference,’ but there’s other times where you run a call and you’re like, I made that person’s day just a little bit better,” Adamiak said.