While working minimum wage jobs for nearly two years, my friend Anaa Jenome has been fighting a war with rising bills, long hours waiting tables at our local Diner, and taking care of her home and 2 kids as a single mother. I always knew she could do better professionally, given her amazing patience and relaxed demeanor with people, and I even told her off and on. But her calling finally came when the diner, she was slaving double shifts at, informed the employees that it would be re-locating from San Jose to Bakersfield due to an expired lease contract and high costs of operation.
Anaa then got a moment to sit back, and re-visit her ambitions to give a better life to her self and her family. Over a hot cup of tea at my place, during the Christmas break last year, while 3 pairs of toddler feet played havoc with Freddie, the resident mutt, we explored various EMT sites on the web for basic how’s and why’s.
I found the Department of Labor to be an informative starting point in our hunt for elaborate and insightful industry information. A feature on future forecasts on the industry highlighted how EMT jobs are expected to grow 20% in the next decade. Anaa was most excited to read the industry median wage information. We were very surprised to learn that an EMT could make upwards of $45,000 in earnings annually.
It’s been a year, since she embarked on that journey, and now Anaa has entered the Healthcare profession. She gained her EMT credentials in the top 2% of her class and is now a practicing EMT with a leading hospital in the Bay Area. She aspires to gain some experience in her current position, before enrolling for an advanced healthcare degree in a few years. I am not sure if the reality of a better paying profession drew Anaa to the Healthcare field, or if it was her natural affinity to help people in need and her high patience quotient. But I am sure there are plenty of other women out there like her who are waiting for that life changing moment, when they can take action to better their lives and live their dreams. If they can draw inspiration from Anaa’s ability to deal with the challenges life posed to her and still come out a winner, this was worth writing about.