FIREFIGHTER FIGHTS BLAZES WHILE MANAGING DIABETES
A lifelong Vacaville resident fulfilled his dream of becoming a full-time firefighter and emergency medical technician this year, and he has done so while managing Type 1 diabetes.
Corey McCormack, a 2014 Vacaville Christian High School graduate, was hired by the Petaluma Fire Department in June, having previously been a paramedic with Medic Ambulance and served as a volunteer firefighter for four years.
While in high school, McCormack learned he was diabetic and after learning about medical-related topics such as how to give himself injections, he said he became “thrown into the world of medicine.”
“It got me interested in medical aspects of life,” he said. “From there, I found out about paramedicine and found I could be a firefighter as well.”
Working at the Petaluma Fire Department, McCormack said he gets to do a little of both.
“I love what I do,” he said. “You get to kind of do it all on the medicine side as well as the firefighting side.”
However, getting started was difficult. McCormack had to obtain many licenses and certifications, one of them being to drive an ambulance. Being insulin-dependent, he said he was immediately disqualified.
“That was a little disheartening at first,” he said, “realizing I wasn’t gonna be able to pursue my dream.”
Nonetheless, McCormack did research and found he could go through a federal process to keep logs of his glucose levels.
Since then, he has been using a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system called Dexcom G6, which he wears to constantly monitor his glucose levels, even while he sleeps.
“(It) checks my blood sugar every five minutes, sends it to my phone (and) submits it,” he said. “It’s almost no work for me to go after that exemption process.”
McCormack was able to get certified and begin his career as a firefighter and paramedic. Given the long hours of work, he
said the job can get stressful but his system does give him alerts if his blood sugar is getting too low or too high.
“(The work) could affect my sugar, whether it’s bringing my blood sugar up or bringing it low,” he said. “If I’m working really hard, and it (Dexcom) says, hey, we think your sugar’s gonna get low in the next 30 minutes, it takes three minutes to eat a quick snack or get a quick drink and I’m back in business.”
Beyond that, McCormack said the job has not been too difficult.
“The only challenge for right now is keeping the supplies close to me,” he said. “Dexcom makes it as easy as possible. It’s minimal work for me.”
With several fires burning in the state at the moment, crews in Petaluma have been dispatched throughout California to help extinguish blazes in places like Fresno and Napa. McCormack said teams can be deployed for a minimum of two weeks. He has had to take additional medical supplies with him, although he said being able to continually monitor his blood sugar allows him to focus more on getting his job done.
“it’s almost an afterthought,” he said.
Back home in Vacaville, McCormack said he was living in an area of town that didn’t require evacuation when the LNU Lightning Complex Fires reached the city, although his parents, who live near Cherry Glen Road, were in a “warning area.” He also had friends near English Hills Road who had to evacuate, and
some even lost their homes. He had come by to help them take livestock to shelters, among other things.
“It’s very unfortunate to see them lose all their memories and their properties,” he said. “It’s difficult, for sure.”
To anyone aspiring to become a firefighter, McCormack advises that it is a job that requires a lot of work from the get-go with some pretty intense schooling.
“If you put the work in, you’ll get what you put in,” he said. “You have to be ready to have that responsibility. The community has a lot of trust in you, and it’s our job to meet the community’s standards…My advice to anyone would just be to work hard, be humble and everything you do, you do the best of your ability.”