It’s not easy being a Paramedic. The long hours and intense work can easily take a toll on a person. But for Mike McCurley with Cullman EMS, saving patients lives has been his passion for nearly 40 years.

McCurley may not have always thought about a career in the medical field, but then an almost tragic event in 1984 presented an opportunity that would change his life. McCurley was working as a volunteer with the Falkville Fire Department and his fiancée had just left the house for work when he received a call to respond to a car accident just minutes from his home. As McCurley raced to the scene all he could think about was his fiancée. “I just knew that it was going to be her,” he said. Luckily for McCurley nobody he knew was involved in the accident, but there was a young woman who needed medical care, and in that moment McCurley said he couldn’t help but feel helpless.

“I just kept thinking ‘What if that had been my fiance?’ I wouldn’t have known what to do. When I was talking to my chief about it, he said that he wouldn’t have known what to do either. That’s when he asked me if I would want to get EMT training,” McCurley said.

McCurley not only accepted the offer, but has continued to further his training over the years until becoming a certified Critical Care Flight EMT. Having a higher level of certification, and being able to administer more advanced medical care, can mean things “go from 0-100 really quickly,” and McCurley’s implementation of his medical training can be the difference between a person living or dying.

“It can be simple things like transferring patients out of the hospital and taking someone home, to the worst calls imaginable — car accidents or someone having a heart attack — where you have to call upon that knowledge to save someone’s life,” he said.

With wearing such a heavy burden while at work, it would be easy enough to forgive McCurley for using every moment of his down-time for relaxation. But that wouldn’t be true to his passion of serving his community. McCurley remembers where he began his journey, and when not at work continues to volunteer his time as a firefighter with the Vinemont Fire Department. For McCurley, the two departments are separate pieces of a more complete unit, often needing to work together as a team to handle different aspects of a situation. But still the service can be grueling.

“It’s not easy. Picture yourself working a 12-hour shift and you get home and are in the middle of eating dinner and then you get a call for a wreck. Now you’re back out there,” he said.

In addition to splitting his time between two very demanding areas, McCurley has two grandchildren — ages 10 and seven— who “have become his life now.” With his free time, McCurley said that he makes it a priority to attend their baseball games and cheer competitions. He does, however, carve away little moments for himself to decompress. He spends time outdoors, camping, kayaking and biking. “Anything to just get away from everything,” he said.

For McCurley, having the opportunity to serve a smaller community and being able to see the people he has treated grow up and start families and enjoy their lives, makes all of the demands of his career worthwhile.

“It’s the patient that comes back. I had one patient that I flew years ago who contacts me every year and just says ‘thank you.’ I have people all the time who will just come up to me and say, ‘You know, you’re exactly where God put you.’”