Rebecca Ethington

Firefighter

I am a mother of 3. I started in EMS in1994 and became a firefighter in 1998 with a local part-time department. I graduated with a bachelor's degree in education in 1998 and began work as a public school teacher as well. I taught EMT classes during that time. I also worked for 5 years as a tech in a small emergency department. I left teaching in 2006 after I had my first baby. Then left Fire/ EMS in 2009 after I had my 2nd baby. I was a stay at home mom until 2018 when I returned to EMS and teaching EMS. Facing a divorce, I looked into returning to a full-time job and applied at a full time fire department and was offered the job. It was conditional upon recertifying as a firefighter. I entered a fire recruit camp at the age of 47 and completed it last fall. I am currently working as a firefighter AEMT with that department full time. I also teach at a local university. as well as work with two smaller part-time fire departments. I am a coordinator for the state with EMSC and teach PEPP and Handtevy for them. I also work as an AHA instructor for ACLS and PALS.