My name is Dave Saquet, I’m 40 years old, and am indeed a non-traditional aged resident! A bit about myself: I grew up in Stoughton MA working as a motorcycle mechanic with my father for most of my high-school years. I have also held jobs in baking, catering, construction, and was a delivery courier in Boston for a bit. In 1989 I graduated high school and said “I’ll give being an EMT a try,” boy did I ever- I finished my basic EMT at age 18 (back in ’89), got my medic in 1992, and worked my way through UMass Amherst from ’93-’97 double majoring in Social Thought Political Economy (STPEC to those initiated…) and Fisheries Ecology. After graduating I just couldn’t leave the valley, or Para-medicine, it’s so beautiful out here and there are so many things to do here in the out-doors and quite a busy pre-hospital system with some great stuff to see & learn. I’ve lived all over the area from Northampton to Hadley to Leeds to Amherst to Chicopee, and I only left to go to medical school in Biddeford, Maine at the University of New England in 2007.

That represented a huge fork in the road for me, a chance to end up somewhere beautiful, friendly, challenging, exciting, fun, and chill. A chance to leave the place I’ve been for the past 15 years of my life and re-invent myself somewhere I love. The funny part: I did just that and stayed right here at home!

I looked at many different disciplines during medical school and, having worked in EMS for quite a bit, wasn’t so quick to jump on the EM train- there are so many great ways to practice medicine and, though I knew I loved EM, I needed to explore all the others. I really loved the continuity of FM, the intensity & procedures of surgery, and just plain loved pediatrics for all the kids. This is a common story in EM, loving a bunch of different cool parts of medicine and ending up in EM because it has them all.

After deciding to go EM, deciding where to do it was as easy as doing a rotation here at Baystate! I’m sure we all sound like skipping records when we say that we’re a close, family-like group but in all seriousness, we are. We work hard as a group, often play hard as a group, and I feel like I’m in the company of friends when I’m with not just my fellow residents but the attendings as well. They all teach in a way that always makes me feel like they genuinely care about my development as not only a physician but a human being as well. The program goes to great lengths to assure that we are able to achieve balance in our life and groups our nights together, and all the rest of our shifts to give us 2 consecutive days off as often as possible- they really know that a happy productive resident is one who’s not pre-occupied with other problems in life and one who has time to recharge their batteries- and if you work here, you’ll surely need to recharge your batteries!

We see so many patients and such a diverse pool of pathology- for me this means never having to worry if I’ll get skills, patients, or if I’ll have anything interesting every single shift I work. We have inner-city populations in our immediate area, suburban populations around the area, and rural populations that are well within our catchment basin- we are a tertiary care center for everyone north of Hartford, south of Dartmouth-Hitchcock, west of Worcester, and east of Albany- quite a sizable area. Our patients come here with anything from agricultural injuries, being lost in the wilderness for days in the winter time, any given medical problem, toxicological emergencies, to any of the long list of classic urban problems. You will have a broad experience base when you leave here, that’s for sure.

In your time off, you get the Pioneer Valley as your back yard!! Great outdoor activities, great food, and a great place to have a family! I personally love mountain biking, cyclocross, nordic skiing, snowboarding, and flying planes- and there’s all that & more to do out here. That’s all I’ve got to say about Baystate- Good luck in the match!! Remember to hang in there- matching is a long and painful process, you’ve gotta try to relax and smile as often as you can!!! Good luck and hope to see you here for a rotation or an interview!!