Bond makes a difference on the job

“You start to go crazy I think. You reach a point where you kind of don’t see daylight any more and you pretty much just exist at night.”

Despite feeling on the brink of madness at times, Casey White accepted that as a potential side effect of his career choice as an emergency medical technician at Rural/Metro Ambulance services.

Photo: Alex Pines

Matthew Nesbitt (left) and Casey White tend to a patient in the back of their ambulance.

White credited Matthew Nesbitt with helping him survive some of the intense and seemingly never-ending nights.

White has worked with several different partners throughout his career, but no one seemed to pass the time the same as his most recent, Nesbitt. 

“Really the only reason I’m still here at this job is because of him," White said "It’s a pretty rare quality that you get to work with one of your best friends for 48 hours a week, just the two of you -- feeding off each other’s energy on calls.”

White and Nesbitt, who preferred the night shifts from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., faced countless dangerous situations, including patients pulling knives on them, threatening to stab them, and sometimes even shoot them.

Their solution: a solid pair of steel knuckle gloves and a sense of humor.

“There’s a lot, a lot of critical calls that we go on that we try not to talk about them afterwards,” White said. “But we'll pick each other up with a joke or something and realize that, 'hey that was a tough call and here’s a joke. Here’s something to make us laugh.'

"For me, I’d rather be laughing, then crying when I go home.”