The oldest resident EMT with East Jefferson Fire Rescue has been a librarian, a music and theatre teacher, a doula assisting in births, and an employee of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Dahti Blanchard, at age 64, retired from her teaching position at Swan School in Port Townsend, but that only lasted a year.
Soon after retiring, she saw a sign calling for volunteer EMTs with EJFR and finally acted on a dream of 30 years.
“I was curious as to whether I’d be able to physically do the test, and went for it,” she said. Now, around a year and a half later, at the age of 67, Blanchard is a full time resident EMT, the oldest on staff.
The training for volunteers included a physical test, which involved carrying heavy objects like a 150-pound dummy out of a fire and two 40-pound buckets into a firetruck, and completing small tasks, such as threading tiny threads through needles in under eight minutes.