PULSE Magazine | August 2019 Issue PE

Meet-A-Medic: Tyler Smith, Clinical Specialist-Field

I’m Tyler and I’m 23 years old. I’m a second generation paramedic and have worked for Austin- Travis County EMS since August of 2015. Ever since I started EMT-B school, I’ve focused on further- ing my education and knowledge in prehospital medicine. I have a wife and a 1 and 1/2-year-old daughter. I like to spend my free time with family, playing with my daughter, studying, and occasion- ally playing my Xbox. I did Hapkido for 5 years and was in wrestling during all 4 years of high school. I met my wife in high school and we’ve been together since 2011. Some of our favorite things to do include going to the movies at Alamo Drafthouse and hiking .

Where are you from originally and what brought you to Austin? I was born and raised in southern California. I grew up in the small city of Yucaipa, and prior to moving here in 2011, lived in the city of Walnut just outside of Los Angeles. When my dad got hired on with the ATCEMS, we moved to Austin.

What inspired you to become a medic/What attracted you to this career choice? After high school, I really didn’t know what to do. I had wrestling scholarship offers, but I didn’t have any desire to attend college. I was delivering pizzas and knew that I wanted to do something more with my life, but I just didn’t know what that was. One day, my dad said, “Why don’t you come on a ride along with me and see if you like it”. I knew that he had been in EMS since before I was born, and as a kid, I would always hear him tell stories of calls that he went on at work, but it never really grabbed my attention. On that ride along, I finally got to see what my dad did for a living. That day flew by and be- fore I knew it, the day was over. I remember asking my dad, “That’s the end of the shift? I really loved this”. This job never gets old to me. There’s always something different each day and nothing is ever “text book”. I could never want or ever see myself doing anything other than prehospital medicine.

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