Strength on the Frontline

From a young age, Sage Forren knew she wanted to help people.

During her senior year at Solanco, she studied nursing at Lancaster County Career & Technical Training. But working in a hospital environment wasn’t for her. Then she spent six months volunteering with Justice Project in Germany, a safe house for girls rescued from sex trafficking.

“That’s when I decided on Emergency Medical Services (EMS) because I saw the difference first responders made in these girls’ lives,” Forren says. “I just love people, and there’s something about being able to care for someone on what may be the worst day of their life.”

Today, at the age of 21, Forren is an EMT for Susquehanna Valley EMS, Lancaster, who responds to calls of cardiac arrest, vehicle accidents, and other “intense” situations. She’d been on the job for about a year and a half when COVID-19 compounded things.

What does it mean to be a woman of strength?

“I’m still trying to process that,” Forren says. “It’s about picking yourself up, to keep going. My personal strength comes from the Lord—Jesus Christ my Lord.”

Continued...

“I had worked a 26-hr shift and I was still in my uniform pants, when I walked into a grocery store, and people were yelling at me saying I was why COVID was spreading. And I was like, ‘I just want groceries—I don’t even have lunch for tomorrow.’ I remember being so frustrated because the general public has no idea what EMS does,” Forren says. “People needed to know we took precautions from day one.”

So she took to social media. Every day, she posted a summary from the frontline. Not only did people learn what EMS workers do, but it struck a chord with people who realized what it was like to be on the frontlines of the pandemic. “All of our coworkers, all the doctors and nurses, everyone on the front line today—they’re all amazing, and they all poured so much into our community,” Forren says. “But we’re all just doing our job.”