Describe your day-to-day role.
As a member of the Fire Department, the structure of each day is always unpredictable. We respond to a wide range of emergencies both on campus and off campus in our surrounding communities. We respond to medical emergencies, traffic accidents, hazardous material incidents, fire alarms, and fires. When we are not responding to emergencies, we train constantly to keep the skills that we need fresh.

"Often times when we see people at an incident, it is on one of their worst days. Keeping that in mind helps me frame my interaction with the patient so that he or she walks away with as positive of an experience as possible."

Share with us an example of how you have delighted a customer.
I think we work in a unique profession when it comes to customer service. Everyone that comes onto this campus or into the City of Davis has the potential to be one of our customers. We strive to make ourselves visible on campus at various public events so that the community is able to learn more about the fire department and what we do to serve the campus community. Every interaction we have with people in public - whether at a football game, a fire drill or while we are working out at the ARC - is an opportunity to have a positive impact on our campus community. Often times when we see people at an incident, it is on one of their worst days. Keeping that in mind helps me frame my interaction with the patient so that he or she walks away with as positive of an experience as possible.

What do you like best about working at UC Davis?
The thing that I like most about working for UC Davis is the support that I get from both the people that I work with on shift and from our administration. We have a few different programs associated with the fire department that give me the opportunity to teach and connect with the students on campus. At the department, we have a Fit for Fire program, we teach CPR classes and we also teach our own EMT program. 

What’s the most challenging part of your job?
One of the most challenging aspects of my job is the amount of skills that are required to remain proficient in. As I mentioned, we respond to many emergencies that all requires different skills. Some of these emergencies, we do not respond to very often. However, when the day comes that we have to, we must be able to perform at a high level. The way that we deal with this challenge is that we train for many hours. I also try to take as many classes as possible to learn as much as I can. This year I had the opportunity to travel to Nashville to attend a training conference.

Tell us one thing about yourself that most people wouldn’t know. 
I won the award for having the best laugh in High School. 

What’s something you like to do when you’re not at work?
When I'm not at work I love to travel and play golf. For the amount of my off time that I play golf I should be on the PGA tour by now. However, I'm actually not even that good at the sport.