By Kerri Hatt
CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Michelle Khare, a popular YouTube content creator with 2.4 million subscribers, spent 12 hours with South Metro Fire Rescue recently, documenting her experience in a video titled, “I Tried Paramedic Academy.”
The video has racked up more than 1 million views in just over a week.
Khare is an actress and host of HBO Max’s adventure competition show, “Karma.” A former professional cyclist, Michelle takes on intense physical and mental challenges.
Each week on her channel, Michelle documents her raw, unfiltered journey into a new community, from training with NASA astronauts, to competing in a Miss USA beauty pageant, to traveling to Quantico to see if she could pass the FBI Academy.
She dedicated this video to “all of the incredible first responders” and thanked South Metro Fire Rescue for allowing her to share their story.
“This experience gave me a unique view into what our first responders have been dealing with for the past year and a half – and I hope that this brings a new perspective to you as well,” Khare wrote. “What is shown on the news barely scratches the surface of what’s truly been happening. This episode is dedicated to who has served on the front lines – you are the real heroes. Thank you.”
The video contains a mix of simulated medical scenarios, with Khare participating, as well as real emergency calls.
https://mobile.twitter.com/MichelleKhare/status/1396952615016181764
The video touched a nerve with commenters, especially those who work in healthcare. One aspiring EMT wrote, “Currently in my EMT class and watching this video makes me realize that my teacher really is training us well on how to take care of the patients. I can’t wait to be a paramedic one day!”
Vanessa Kersten wrote, “I’m watching this on shift as an EMT and I have never seen anything sum up the EMS experience as well as this video. It’s the best job I’ve ever had and it’s also the hardest job I can imagine doing. I hope everyone can watch this and get an idea of what being a first responder is actually like. Sometimes it’s just a day filled with checking/washing the trucks and playing pranks on each other. Then there are other days where you run back to back calls and don’t get to eat for hours. Despite everything, this is still the best job in the world.”
“I’ve been a nurse for 25 years. I’ve seen people take their last breaths, heard their last words, and comforted families who have lost their loved one,” Robyn Biren commented. “The look on your face when the mannequin ‘died’ hit home. I’ve been there so many times. Thank you for bringing to light the realities of what health care professionals deal with on a daily basis, especially in these challenging times.”