![\"Jackson](\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2015\/01\/Maust_Couple_Sheeler_Large2.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cBoth of my jobs are high stress, intense places to work where sometimes horrible, awful things happen,\u201d says Katie. \u201cYou see very raw human emotion and the human experience right there in front of you. It\u2019s a gift to experience those things, but it\u2019s also a challenge, too. It\u2019s a way that we serve God, being with people and walking through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Growing at EMU and in the community<\/h3>\n
Both Jackson and Katie became involved at the rescue squad while undergraduates at EMU (the two had met as freshmen, but started dating as seniors). Jackson, a biology<\/a> major from Michigan, was interested in physical therapy. Katie, from Ohio, was also a biology major interested in healthcare.<\/p>\n Their majors and pre-professional interests required clinical exposure and contact hours, but both Jackson and Katie fulfilled that requirement before volunteering with the squad. They joined together to gain more experience, but not with an equal sense of certainty, Jackson recalled.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t think of myself as someone who would have any interest in high stress, emergency situations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n While he may not have had any interest, he certainly had plenty of experience in high stress situations: as a three-year starting goalkeeper on the Royals soccer team, Maust had more than 225 career saves to his name. Blocking a goal, though, is a minor and simplistic act compared to saving a life. Yet Jackson eventually found a calling, thanks to the rigorous training and the strong support network provided by HRS.<\/p>\n \u201cThis agency does a great job of preparing you and training you,\u201d Jackson said, adding that the squad\u2019s trainers teach not only medical skills, but provide emotional support as well. \u201cIt\u2019s not a natural thing to be able to do some of the things we do and see some of the things we see and then move on. Coping is something you learn. It\u2019s not something you naturally know how to do.\u201d<\/p>\n After graduation, he and Katie stayed in Harrisonburg for a year. That time solidified their commitment \u2013 both to volunteering in medical services and to each other.<\/p>\n The couple married in 2011 in Columbus, Ohio, where Jackson was working on a doctorate in physical therapy at The Ohio State University, and Katie, who was accepted to medical school but decided not to pursue the profession, was completing a second bachelor\u2019s degree in an accelerated nursing program at Capital University. They also volunteered with a small one-ambulance squad in Columbus. (For comparison, Harrisonburg has nine.)<\/p>\n Fast-forward to Harrisonburg in 2014, and a similar life, carrying pagers and running calls for the rescue squad, but to this new era, add full-time careers, a warm and wide circle of friends, and a growing sense of rootedness to Harrisonburg.<\/p>\n Now Katie, 28, and Jackson, 27, are seasoned members among the 160 volunteers. From its headquarters on Reservoir Street, R40 responds to approximately 8,000 calls per year.<\/p>\n The couple has taken on mentoring, training and supervisorial responsibilities. Katie was recently voted to a one-year term on the board of directors and also sits on the training committee.<\/p>\n Jackson serves as one of three fleet maintenance officers and also one of four deputy chiefs (each chief is in charge of the squad\u2019s operations on a rotating four-week schedule). He is one of a small group of volunteers certified to drive the squad truck and operate its heavy equipment at accident scenes requiring extrication equipment.<\/p>\n These responsibilities are in addition to the minimal 48 hours a month of shift work required of all members. Shifts vary from six hours on the weekdays to 12 hours on the weekends. When Katie and Jackson work a shift, they usually fill the role of duty officer, or shift supervisor \u2013\u00a0assessing calls and determining which crews will be sent.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people who pour themselves into this place,\u201d Katie said, \u201cfar beyond the minimal requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOnce you get involved with the agency and care about it, you get involved,\u201d Jackson added. \u201cThat\u2019s one way we stay volunteer. All the members put in their hours and a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n Spending so many hours at the rescue squad, and working together in traumatic situations, builds strong bonds, Katie said. \u201cYou go through a lot together, and you have fun, too. That\u2019s a huge part of what brings us back.\u201d<\/p>\n As college students, Katie and Jackson appreciated that volunteering with the rescue squad got them out of the Park View community and into greater Harrisonburg. Learning the city\u2019s street names and meeting people who lived and worked on those streets connected them more deeply with their adopted home.<\/p>\n But with rootedness comes a different perception, Jackson says. \u201cThis work does not discriminate. We end up in every type of house and business and out in the street. You appreciate different parts of the city. When we moved back indefinitely with no plans to leave, it feels a lot different \u2026this place is a lot more mine than it used to be.\u201d<\/p>\n When driving through Harrisonburg, Katie says the city and its residents evoke \u201cintimate\u201d memories. \u201cI think, \u2018I\u2019ve been there and I\u2019ve been there. I\u2019ve been in that office and in that school.\u2019 I\u2019ve been in people\u2019s homes. It feels like a privilege to be the person someone calls when they need help and they open the door and say come in. You see things no one else will see.\u201d<\/p>\n The couple admits to sometimes feeling exhausted by their busy schedules and stressful jobs.<\/p>\n That\u2019s when they head outside for some biking, running, or gardening. Jackson plays upright bass with The Walking Roots Band<\/a>, a close-knit group (some of whom are fellow EMU grads). Their faith community at Zion Mennonite Church<\/a> also sustains them.<\/p>\n Katie says that each shift always brings affirmation for both her and for their commitment as a couple to this special kind of service. \u201cSeeing it as a calling and an opportunity to serve gives this a different meaning than something we\u2019re signed up to do and we should keep doing because we\u2019ve been doing it a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs this where we still feel like God\u2019s calling us to be?\u201d she asks.<\/p>\n The answer is yes.<\/p>\n Many EMU alumni volunteer with Harrisonburg Rescue Squad, including Steve Higgins `03, Jordan Good `09, Courtney French `10, Noel Johns `13, Christina Dickerson `14, John Bethune `14, Sara Rieman `14, and Andrew Kniss `14.\u00a0 Current student volunteers include graduate students Matthew Tieszen `10 and Mavis Britwum (both in the master\u2019s in biomedicine program<\/a>); undergraduates Evan Roth and Hannah Weaver, class of 2016; and Emily Foltz, accelerated second degree nursing<\/a> student<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coming back to Harrisonburg<\/h3>\n