BACKGROUND: Marguerite Haaga is a paramedic, Emergency Medical Services instructor and member of the Killingworth Ambulance Association’s board of directors. She and her husband, Mike, live in Killingworth, but she works primarily in a busy system in Fairfield County, often in Bridgeport where she was born. She became a paramedic in 1989 and is a part of an adjunct faculty, teaching paramedic classes at Capital Community College.
Q: Why did you decide to become an EMT?
HAAGA: I took an EMT class as an easy “4” credit class back in 1978. Then, I started as a volunteer in the Stratford EMS.
Q: Did you and your husband become EMTs together or was one of you first?
HAAGA: Mike took the EMT class five years after I did.
Q: Did you have something to do with his decision?
HAAGA: Yes, the reason he became an EMT is that he couldn’t understand why, when we were going out for dinner, we’d be eating and then I’d go out on a call. So then we weren’t together.
Q: What happens if you get a call at midnight? Who goes — you, your husband or both?
HAAGA: If there is no second crew member that calls in, then at times we do calls together. We have done many emergency calls as a couple.
Q: What do you find challenging or rewarding about being an EMT?
HAAGA: As a paramedic, the challenge is assessing and treating the patient.