An EMT Speaks Candidly About Working At Night in Downtown Corridors

For Michael Guymon, being an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) is a career filled with tragedy, bitter realizations, and beautiful moments of brotherhood.

Guymon has been an EMT for about three years and six months full time on the streets of Reno.

As an EMT, Guymon, a UNR graduate, says he has seen sides of Reno he wished did not exist. “It's (Reno) dirtier than I thought it was going to be. Drugs are a lot more rampant here than I first anticipated, and the amount of meth in Reno is pretty absurd.” Meth, he says, remains a serious issue in certain communities.

“So opiates are kind of a more expensive drug, same with like all your like hallucinogenics and cocaine,” Guymon said. “Meth is massive. Super cheap meth is easily obtainable, and you're high lasts for way longer. Fortunately, I don't see too much overdose in terms of heroin and the homeless population. I have encountered meth with people who have hotel rooms or live in some very low-priority housing kind of thing. That's where you start to see meth use.”

Mental health is also an issue he believe has not received enough sustained attention. “A big issue is with drugs and with just the inability for us to actually take care of mental health patients on the street, and they don't get help there. So they just continue to try dosing themselves with random drugs or use like meth or something like that. They're very easily taken advantage of by other people on the street. It's really sad because there's very little that we can do for mental health. And there's very little the ER can do for mental health. We only have, like, I would say probably like four or five major mental health facilities and Reno. And if you don't have insurance, it's kinda difficult to get into those.”

Dealing with downtown ambassadors he says is also a work in progress. Listen to the full episode with Gracie Gordon to find out more of his candid thoughts.