Wilson Is Responder Of The Month Candidate

news1@ulyssesnews.com

Grant County EMT Sadie Wilson had no plans to become an Emergency Medical Technician. In fact, it was a car accident and a chance encounter with EMS Director Jeff Baier – who was the mechanic working on her car – that set her on the path to saving lives in Grant County. Baier encouraged her to take the EMT class here, and she became certified in 2022 and started working full time that November.

Sadie took the same class currently being offered.

“They offered it in 2020 and then it took me about a year and a half to actually get certified,” Sadie said.

A native of Hooker, Okla., Sadie was nominated by Robert Stamey.

“When she first started, she had a lot of issues she had to overcome, and she did it and is still doing it which is admirable,” Stamey said. “She is becoming strong in the field and with the things she does. She studies and has learned a lot in just a short time that she has been an EMT."

Sadie held a series of odd jobs before becoming an EMT, such as Pizza Hut, Seaboard in Guymon and at the Ulysses Head Start – anything to get an income.

“I never really ever thought I’d be in the medical field or an EMT,” she said. But when Baier worked on her car, he said, “’Well, instead of being the one in the accident, why don’t you come try this class and be the one that responds.”

She gave it a try because she didn’t like working at Pizza Hut.

“I gave it a try and I fell in love with it,” she added.

Stamey said her attitude is what makes her stand out.

“She is great to work with and I have not heard her say a bad thing about anyone,” Stamey added. “She is always eager to help (and) this is great.”

Being able to help people is Sadie’s motivation.

“When you first get on scene you can see the fear and they know something’s wrong and they’re scared,” she said. “But when we show up on scene, you can see that relief just by us showing up and then by the help we provide, it provides them even more relief; so it’s just being able to help people and provide that comfort and  care, because it’s not always medical care that they need, sometimes they just need somebody to talk to. Sometimes they just need a hand to hold, you know?”

She said each call is unique. And one such call was helping deliver the first baby born in Grant County in 2025.

“I got to help deliver a baby on New Year’s Eve,” she proudly said. “I had never done that before. In our book there’s an (Obstetrics) chapter, but it’s 30 pages long, so it doesn’t really give you much information.”

She said since the Ulysses hospital doesn’t deliver babies anymore, the staff needed assistance from EMS.

“We got called to the hospital, because the hospital staff on that night had no OB experience,” she said. “They couldn’t get a hold of our OB nurse and so they called us to respond.”

Sadie said it was a roller coaster of emotions for mom and baby and staff. The mom was just 25 weeks along, so the baby was a preemie.

“He got flown out to Kansas City and mom got taken to Garden and everything was OK,” Sadie said. “We walked in, and it was just pure chaos, but it was cool being a part of the team to control that chaos and make a good outcome out of what could have been really bad.”

Mom was still bleeding after the birth so Sadie and the team stabilized her, and the highway patrol drove to Garden City to get medications they needed.

“We were on the phones with doctors from Dallas to Denver and Kansas City - neonatal specialists,” Sadie said. “We were like, ‘What do we do, we’re such a small hospital, we don’t run into this very often.’ It was really cool, I learned a lot and it opened my eyes to a lot.”

To the point it makes Sadie maybe want to go into OB nursing and work on pre-hospital and in-hospital care.

“Getting to take care of the patient all the way through,” Sadie added.

But what about the baby? He was born at 12:30 a.m. New Year’s Day and Sadie said as far as she knows, he’s fine.

“Every day’s a new adventure, like every shift there’s something that stands out,” Sadie said. “We’ll get dispatched to a difficulty breathing, but each difficulty breathing is completely different. And that’s also what I love about EMS – the mystery and the excitement of it.”

Yes, every day is a new adventure.

An adventure that one little baby in Ulysses is glad Sadie Wilson is on.