Jocelyn Bartmess knew she wanted to help people. She just wasn’t quite sure how to make that happen.

“I grew up in central Texas,” she said. “The city I grew up in was a one-stoplight town, population 1,700. There wasn’t a career (EMS) service there.”

Bartmess said she didn’t consider EMS as a career until she moved to Kentucky to be closer to her mother.

After earning her EMT license, she started working at the ambulance service in Harrison County.

In November 2015, she was hired by Winchester Fire-EMS. At the time she was going through the department’s 14-week recruit class, she was also finishing paramedic school. Paramedic classes take about nine months, she said, but there is required ride time on ambulances on paramedic calls to be completed.

“(Ride time) can take anywhere from six months to a year, depending on your luck,” she said.

In the department’s recruit class, she learned the firefighting side of the department. She is presently assigned to Engine 3, the department’s ladder truck, though she still works as a paramedic from the ambulance as needed.

Bartmess said she goes through a mental checklist while responding to every call, though they are different depending on EMS or fire.

“When I’m the medic, I’m thinking about what could possibly happen, the number of things, how we get the patient out and where we take him,” she said. “On a fire call, the adrenaline is pumping a little more. If you hear the battalion chief say ‘smoke showing,’ that cranks it up a little more.”

As the driver of the latter truck, she is also concerned with access to the scene for the truck, access to water and a number of clearance issues related to raising the ladders.

Learning the firefighting side of the business offered new challenges.

“I started medic school pretty soon after getting an EMT license,” she said. “Then I started exercising. When I was doing my ride time, I saw how important it was to be strong. I was intrigued and that challenged me. I’m able to make fitness a big part of the job. On my off days, I’m a coach at CrossFit Strode Station.”

At the end of the day, it’s still about helping people.

“Sometimes it’s just being kind and smiling,” she said. “Sometimes we pick up a patient and they’re super, super sick. By the time we get to the hospital, they’re conscious and laughing. That’s not every day.”