NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HAVEN, Kan. — Ariel Fleming, an EMT in Haven and with the Sedgwick County Jail, is the Allen Samuels Spotlight a Hero winner for September.
"I went into EMS as a challenge to myself at first," Fleming said. "To show my kids that, if you wanted to do something, that you can do it. Just put in time and hard work. I just enjoy being the person that's there when someone doesn't know what to do, or they are alone."
The daily work is what she enjoys, understanding that no two days are the same.
"It's nothing like the TV shows," Fleming said. "I think when I was watching them and being in it, it's completely different. People need you for so many different things, so many different reasons. I think that's why I like getting up every day and doing this job."
Staying calm under pressure is about working together, according to Fleming.
"If my team and I, we're calm, it's easy to calm down somebody," Fleming said. "It's really hard to calm down somebody who is super heightened. If you can go in the situation and you're just calm and cool and collected and you get them from point A to point B, then, after the call, then you debrief and then you calm yourself down."
Fleming was nominated by Keighla Humphries, “She is an amazing person, the most selfless person who would do anything for others," Humphries said. "She’s a single mama doing what she has to, to always make sure she’s the best for her kiddos! She is truly a model that anyone would be lucky to look up to. She's been through hell and back and that never once stopped her. It only further pushed her to follow her dream and never give up. She has made the life she wanted for herself and I’m so proud of her.”