76: Nathan Moyer

Firefighter/Paramedic

Nathan is very family oriented. It’s a regular thing for his family to have dinners and gatherings together. That all stopped, like it did for all of us during the pandemic. Particularly since he and his sister both work in the medical field. She works at Penn State Health, Hershey Medical Center. They had to be extra cautious of their compromised mother and father. 

Reading Fire Department took all the recommended precautions to protect its crews - masks, COVID tests once a week, gloves, lots of sanitizing and cleaning. For the most part it worked. Some firefighters did contract the virus and tragically one even died from it. Nathan and his family remained healthy.

His 4 days on/4 days off work shifts at the fire department, with 10-hour days and 14-hour nights, continued non-stop through the pandemic. Additionally, he worked in the Critical Care Unit of Penn State Health, St. Joseph Medical Center. One of his main jobs was COVID testing. Seeing the terror on the faces of those testing positive became emotionally and mentally draining, even for someone of his experience. So, his main goal was always, “Patient first. Keep a good outlook and comfort them. Try to make them smile.”

He said, “Life can disappear quickly.” The spread of this virus weighed on him as it got worse. But he kept abreast of the latest science and just kept going.

He added, “Cases are getting better now. Treatment plans especially. Medicine is evolving and keeps improving.” He’d like to see more people choose the EMS field and stay in it. He does believe it takes a special person to do this work.