Emily Benning – Paramedic

Emily was born and raised in the NEK and spent most of her youth loose in the woods poking gross things with sticks. She left to get a science degree from Cornell University just in time for an economic recession, so she put that degree to use as a barista/landscaper/dishwasher to finance a decade-long rugby habit. Eventually she moved back to Vermont to attend (and then drop out of) art school while simultaneously running trail crews and digging holes for the Green Mountain Club in summer and performing a variety of odd jobs at Stowe Mountain Resort in winter. A coworker at the Resort finally persuaded Emily to get involved with EMS; given the lack of local rugby teams and the promise of getting to see other people’s gruesome injuries instead of acquiring them herself, this struck Emily as a generally positive option.

After obtaining her EMT certification, Emily was promptly hired by the National Park Service to work as a protection ranger at a ridiculously-remote park called Isle Royale in the middle of Lake Superior. After spending the season poking a LOT of gross things (without even needing a stick!) Emily realized she’d finally landed on a career path she enjoyed, and returned to Vermont once again to put her weird array of skills to use serving her native community. In keeping with her history of questionable career choices, Emily signed up for paramedic school just in time for a global pandemic. After spending a few hundred hours of field training stuffed into an N95 and giant plastic suit, Emily clawed her way to graduation. She is honored to be able to provide advanced-level emergency care to the creatively and unintentionally self-destructive residents of northern Vermont. 

Emily lives in North Wolcott with her manpanion Steven and “dented can dog”, Kooga. When she’s not in the back of the ambulance poking something gross, she’s probably in a canoe.