During the really busy stretches when two days essentially melt into one — and there are many — Anes Gadun works an overnight shift as an EMT from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and a 10-hour shift at his family’s auto body shop in Clinton from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Then, sometimes, it’s straight back to the ambulance. Or maybe the firehouse. Yes, he’s also a volunteer firefighter, has been for about six years.
When does this kid sleep?
“During the [ambulance] shift, when there are no calls,” he said.
Gadun, 20, a sophomore soccer player and pre-med student at Trinity College, will one day be a doctor.
“I guess I’m prepping my body for residency,” he said.
We’re obviously living in a time of great complication, with COVID-19 putting a screeching halt to certain routines and demanding that we find different ways to make the most of the minutes, hours and days that comprise our lives and shape our futures.
For Gadun, ironically, that has meant returning to what he ordinarily does while home, at an accelerated pace, with endeavors that are equally exhausting, exhilarating and rewarding.
Gadun left Trinity’s Hartford campus in March, continuing his education through online classes like just about every other student in America. A volunteer firefighter since he was a 14-year-old high school freshman, he reestablished a presence there. An EMT for the past two years, he scheduled as many ambulance shifts as he can manage.
All with a scary virus sweeping the nation and affecting ways first responders, in particular, must go about taking care of themselves and those they serve.
“We’re a small beach town and the overall number of calls during the apex of this, they went down,” Gadun said. “The calls themselves haven’t been too difficult, in a sense, as you’re getting more used to this being the norm. Everyone was [initially] stressed in a sense of you don’t want to make a mistake with your [personal protective equipment] because what we knew is that this virus spreads very easily. The last thing you want to do is be exposed by a mistake with PPE. So everyone was very high strung in making sure everyone was donning and doffing the proper way.”
Times like this show what people are made of.
Gadun is made of the right stuff. Dedication. Passion. A commitment to service. He’s a worker. And his family’s role in our society represents the best of what immigration adds.
Gadun was born in Bosnia in 2000, to father Almin and mother Vahida, with the country still establishing a democracy and economy in the wake of the Bosnian War, which ended in 1995. Almin worked in the auto body field there, then in the Czech Republic, later at a Volkswagen factory in Germany, where the family moved shortly after Anes was born.
Later selected as part of a U.S. lottery system, the Gaduns immigrated to America, landing at JFK International Airport on Aug. 28, 2001.
“So any goals and aspirations I had could be accomplished,” Gadun said. “My parents wanted the best for me.”
The family settled in New Haven with the assistance of someone helping U.S. immigrants from the Balkans, then moved to Guilford. Gadun and his younger brother, Aden, have spent most of their lives in Clinton, where the family owns and runs Gadun’s Auto Body on East Main Street.
Gadun, a goalkeeper, excelled at soccer. He was a two-year captain at The Morgan School, the public high school in town, and 2017 Class S state champion as a senior in 2017.
Along the way, encouraged by a friend, Gadun joined the Clinton Fire Department. He works on the exterior at fire scenes, preparing hoses and hydrants, moving tools and equipment, changing oxygen tanks. Gadun plans to take a months-long course this year with a goal to pass a Fire 1 exam, becoming state certified to fight fire in a building’s interior.
“I was automatically drawn to it,” Gadun said. “Something about being able to help the community and more than yourself really attracted me.”
Gadun is not yet halfway through college. He spent a semester at St. Joseph in West Hartford, a member of the university’s first men’s soccer team. Seeking a different experience, he transferred to Trinity, where he played in six games last season, starting four. He will start applying to medical schools toward the end of his junior year, aiming to become an emergency room doctor or trauma surgeon.
Gadun took an accelerated class to become EMT certified as a high school senior. He’s spent a couple years now in the back of the rig, trained in life support and treating everything from cardiac arrest to shock to broken limbs, occasionally joined by a paramedic for situations with potential to escalate quickly or require drug intervention.
He’s never done it during a time like this.
“The calls, easier overall, but more stressful in making sure no one makes mistakes,” he said. “Meticulous steps to undress and sanitize. Take off the gown, take off your gloves, sanitize your hands, take off you’re your mask, sanitize your mask. New mask, new gloves, sanitize the ambulance.”
Gadun’s mother, who goes by Vicky, is a patient care assistant at Yale New Haven Hospital, where she is currently working on in a COVID-specific area of the ICU.
“She’s just like me,” he said.
Eventually, Gadun will be back on campus for his junior year and his second season between the pipes for the Bantams.
He has already begun looking for a Hartford-area ambulance company to join.
Of course, he has, undeterred by the world’s halt, even inspired by the opportunity it presents.
He’ll sleep later. He’ll sleep after college. Or after med school. Or in retirement.
