Mountain Hawk Heroes: Rowing Student-Athlete Susan Westman '21

8/5/2020 3:46:00 PM | Women's Rowing, Student Athlete, Features, Flight 45, Intellectual Development

Every Wednesday, Lehigh Athletics, Lehigh Valley Health Network and Coordinated Health is proud to recognize a Mountain Hawk Hero - someone associated with Lehigh Athletics who is making a difference in the medical field. We continue today with rising senior of the rowing team Susan Westman '21.

Previous Mountain Hawk Heroes
July 29: Megan Hetzel (Track and Field/Cross Country Alum)
July 22: Lexi Martins (Women's Basketball Alum)
July 15: Nii Daako-Darko (Track and Field/Cross Country Alum)
July 8: Ali Linsk Butash (Softball Alum)
July 1: Kimberly Scotto-Wetzel & Jonathan Wetzel (Track and Field/Cross Country Alums)
June 24: Robert Bonow (Men's Basketball Alum)
June 17: Morgan Decker (Softball Alum)
June 10: Jim Guzzo (Former Quarterback)
June 3: Amina Affini (Women's Basketball Alum) 
May 27: Natalie Krane (Women's Soccer Alum)
May 20: Tricia Klein (Women's Golf Assistant Coach)
 

Story By: Justin Lafleur, Lehigh Sports Communications
Video By: Tommy Biltcliff, Lehigh Sports Communications
 
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Susan Westman '21 of the Lehigh rowing team understood her community, state and country needed action for there to be progress.
 
As entrepreneur Fabienne Fredrickson once said, "Progress is a combination of forward motion and taking action."
 
That quote is certainly true of a pandemic. Over the past several months, Westman has stepped up to the plate in an extremely meaningful way, using her EMT license in the fight against COVID-19.
 
When asked about her motivation to help, Susan said, "If not me, then who?"
 
Diving in headfirst to the frontlines of a pandemic is not an easy decision, especially due to the coronavirus being so easily transmittable.
 
"My parents and I talked at length about what it would look like because I would be exposing myself to many coronavirus patients by going into the nursing homes and hospitals," said the Orland Park, Illinois native.
 
Even at her young age – a rising senior in college – there's no doubt Westman is a Mountain Hawk Hero.
 
Medical Interests Lead To EMT Certification
Westman was exposed to the medical field from a young age.
 
"My mother had breast cancer when I was nine years old, my father had prostate cancer when I was 14 and I have a brother with autism, so we've always been in and out of doctor's offices," said the bioengineering major. "What cemented it for me was honestly my mom's cancer and just seeing all the different steps she had to take. Her doctors were very open with me; I came with her to radiation and saw the machine she was going in.
 
"I was able to see what they were doing and how that was saving my mom."
Susan Westman 
As the years passed, Westman's interest in medicine remained strong, and that interest eventually sparked the thought of becoming an EMT.
 
"I wasn't sure what I wanted to do last summer," she said. "My parents suggested I take an EMT class, which I thought was a great idea. Get some experience and see if I actually like working with patients before signing up for medical school, which takes a bunch of time and money.
 
"I also really love helping people."
 
Westman took the class through a local community college.
 
"It was pretty fast-paced, but I liked it," she said.
 
No surprise Westman liked it; she thrives under pressure. Following the course, she passed the national exam then applied for her EMT license in both Pennsylvania (where Lehigh is located) and Illinois (her home state).
 
It set the stage for Westman to make an impact.
 
Putting Her License To Work
During the 2019-20 academic year, Westman worked for Lehigh University Emergency Medical Services (LU EMS). Today, she also works for Trace Ambulance a private ambulance company in the greater Chicagoland area.
 
"A big part of what we do is talk to our patients because they're usually extremely stressed out," she said. "This might be the worst day in their life and they just need someone to talk them down. We're only BLS (Basic Life Support) not ALS (Advanced Life Support – the paramedics). Usually, it's not anything too serious when we get called."
 
Westman wasn't expecting as much manual labor as she's had to do.
 
"Most of our patients are bedridden, so we have to physically move them with the sheets, or if we're taking them home from the hospital, we stair chair them up," she said. "That means we transfer them from a stretcher to a chair, hold the chair up and walk them up the stairs."
 
The Pandemic Hits
The last few months have been a whirlwind for everyone, Westman included. She and her Mountain Hawk teammates were in Southern California on their spring break training trip in March when their season was cancelled.
 
"It was really hard at first," said Westman. "I'm not going to lie. We were all excited and things were going well, but we didn't even get one season race."
 
After getting home, Westman felt like she needed something else (along with her schoolwork) to stay active.
 
So, as she asked herself, "I have this EMT license… Why am I not using it?
 
"I knew they could use the help," Westman continued. "For March and April, almost all our calls were pandemic-related so we would completely suit up then put on a mask (usually surgical mask) over it – gown, glasses and gloves. The full gear.
 
"We went into nursing homes and took people who were infected to their treatments. Even if they were of sound mind and could walk, you need to maintain isolation precautions, so we were called."
 
Growth Through Hardship
Through being an EMT, especially during a pandemic, Westman is doing something Lehigh Athletics consistently stresses – learning, growing and leading.
 
"I believe my communication skills are a lot better now," she said. "Every day I go to work, I always have a partner. Someone drives the ambulance and the other sits in the back. When you're dealing with a patient, you have to be one hundred percent on the same page with your partner. You have to trust each other and always have each other's backs."
 
Westman also understands that empathy she's learned as an EMT will help her in a future career in medicine.
 
"We go into all sorts of situations," she said. "It's very easy to assume other people come from a comfortable background where you know things are being taken care of. And I think as a doctor, you're more removed and don't see patients' home circumstances. You can assume things are going to be for the best, that the patient will take their meds and they're living in a nice environment."
 
But Westman has learned from first-hand experience that comfortable living environments are far from always the case.
 
"Being an EMT has helped me become much more empathetic to the realities of a lot of people in the U.S.," she said. "I have seen socioeconomic disparities first-hand."
 
Crossover Of Skills
The crash course Westman is gaining as an EMT is perspective not many people, never mind people of her age, get to experience. It will only help her as she moves into the 2020-21 academic year.
Susan Westman 
There is significant crossover of skills between being an EMT and being a student-athlete.
 
"I know that Susan being a rower has benefitted her EMT experience and vice versa," said Lehigh head coach Brian Conley. "With our season being so long, inevitably a team runs through a rocky period of motivation or focus, and I know I can rely on Susan in those times."
 
Conley is able to rely so much on Westman because of many things, especially her communication skills.
 
"Even though rowing is silent besides the coxswain, the sport is all about communication," said Westman. "Everyone in your boat needs to be on the same exact page about when you take your oar out of the water and when you put it in. And even though it's a silent form of communication, you're in it together as an absolute team.
 
"It's all about the boat."
 
Sound familiar?
 
"As an EMT, it's not like one of us (my partner or I) saves the day," said Westman. "Both of us have to work together.
 
"It's also important to be empathetic in rowing – just being there for my teammates, hearing what the other girls are going through and helping them," she continued. "As a captain this past year, I was a go-between between our athletes and coaching staff.
 
"That reminded me of talking to a nurse then talking to a patient – as the go-between in conveying a message."
 
Enormous Growth
It's pretty obvious Westman is ready to tackle the world. She already has, and she credits a large part of her growth to Lehigh.
 
"I came in freshman year very unsure about myself, but the team was always there and was a familial support system, which I always appreciated," said Westman. "As time went on, things slowly started to work themselves out."
 
As Conley said, Westman came in with a strong foundation, but has come into her own as her collegiate career has progressed.
 
"Susan has always been a person who strives to be better," said Conley. "That has not changed, but by embracing that side of herself completely, she has grown enormously over the past three years. Susan went from someone who was quirky and quiet to someone who leads in a strong and confident way. She has made our team better because of her willingness to put herself out there in all situations, including being an EMT during this pandemic."
Susan Westman Story 
When asked to reflect on the Lehigh rowing program, two words immediately come to Westman's mind.
 
"We hear Coach Conley say it again and again – accountability and transparency," she said. "I always take those words everywhere with me. As a junior, I was on C.O.A.C.H. (Community Outreach by Athletes who Care about Helping) and then became a co-captain. I get to work with other student-athletes outside my team and learn more about, and work with, the community.
 
"But I'd say the number one thing Lehigh has taught me is how to be more confident and self-assured in my decisions, which is especially necessary as an EMT because once you make a decision, you have to go forward with it."
 
A Future In Medicine
Westman is confidently moving forward towards her end goals in medicine.
 
"I believe there's a lot to be said for being there for people," she said. "I want to veer towards being an obstetrician gynecologist or ER doctor."
 
Westman has come to learn, and appreciate, that personal connection with people.

"As an ER doctor, you're in the midst of things and as an obstetrician gynecologist, you're able to grow with your patients," she said.
 
Because of her experience as an EMT, Westman doesn't have to speculate about what it's like on the front lines. She has been in the middle of the world's biggest public health crisis in more than a century.
 
Coming out of it, Westman is even more convinced than ever that the medical field is for her.
 
"The pandemic opened my eyes to the realities of the health care system," she said. "I feel like it's easy to have a pretty glossy view of what medical school and working at a hospital look like. Although I don't really interact with doctors (she mainly interacts with nurses), getting to see what the day-to-day is like in a hospital and how an ER functions has shaped my view.
 
"It has reassured me that I would like to go into the medical field and make a difference."
 
Westman will undoubtedly make a difference in the future, but she's already doing so in the present. This Mountain Hawk Hero is courageously taking action to help her community, state and country make progress in the fight against COVID-19.
 
"I am very proud of Susan for taking action and living what she believes and what our team stands for," said Conley. "She is working towards the bigger, better picture for everyone around her. 
 
"When we put our personal goals aside for the sake of others, we see the department's Better Me, Better We initiative come to life."

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Susan Westman

/ Women's Rowing

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