Columbia’s own Jill Swain has spent the last 15 years of her career working as a dedicated member of Bertie County’s EMS crew. As part of that squad, she uses all of her skills as an EMT to ensure that when the worst inevitably happens, victims receive the best outcome possible for their situation and their families the respect and compassion they deserve.

Homeschooled in her youth, Swain would become the first in her family to envision a career in emergency response.

As she tells it, this was largely due to the lessons she learned early on as part of her local 4-H program.

“I think I owe a lot of it to growing up in the 4-H program. It was a big part of my life and you really learned what it means to serve your community and be a good citizen,” Swain recounts fondly. “The motto growing up was ‘to make the best better’ and so I always had that inkling in me to serve my community and do the best I could for other people.”

However, the biggest catalyst to her future career was experiencing a familial tragedy during her formative years.

“The other part of it was when my aunt died in a car accident. I remember when the EMS crew came to our house to tell us the news and bring us her pocketbook. They were super nice and understanding, while telling us that they had done the best they could to try and save her,” she recalls. “It meant a lot to us the way they reached out and delivered the news…I wanted to be able to do that for someone else…to be that kind of comfort in a terrible time.”

According to Swain, that incident was just the early push she needed to begin her journey. She would go on to attend Beaufort County Community College where she obtained her initial certification at the age of 22.

Not long after she got right to work and later joined the Bertie County team some time later where she has become an integral part of the team.

Here, she quickly found herself in the thick of what she always wanted to be a part of, namely the work of providing assistance to those in need and being a compassionate voice to families when the worst happens.  

It’s work that naturally requires a good deal of fortitude and mental toughness to accomplish effectively, even more so when it comes to delivering the all too often soul crushing news to victims’ loved ones.

“It’s definitely a job that requires a lot of you. Really, it’s all about your mindset. For me, it helps to put myself in the shoes of the people we’re helping,” she says...