COLUMBUS - If you live in Columbus, you've probably seen EMTs from Midwest Medical around town with other first responders.

Recently, two of them, along with crews from Grand Island, Fremont and Lincoln, packed their gear and went to the east coast to do what they do best: Save lives.

Tatiana Alexander said she just got her certification two days before she got the call.

“I figured, what small-town Nebraska girl who just recently got her EMT a year ago is going to work hand-in-hand with FDNY?" Alexander said. "So I jumped at the opportunity when I was asked.”

The mother of four said she deployed to New York City.

Charlee Schraer said after just four months of being an EMT, she too bid farewell to her three kids and went to New Jersey.

“Going there was like the next chapter in my book," Schraer said. "I was ready for it. I was ready to go there, I was ready to help people.”

They said they spent several weeks working 12 or more hours a day, responding to sick calls and rescues, and generally relieving the local fire departments of the emergency calls coming in.

“Before we got there, they were completely pulling their hair out," Alexander said. "They were back-to-back calls. When we got there, they treated us like family. I mean, we were accepted and treated like family. They treated us very well. They fed us at their stations.”

They said they got the same appreciation from the local residents.

“There was people on the steps, they were crying, they were clapping," Schraer said. "At one part, I started crying just watching them cry. It’s like, ‘help finally came for us. It’s okay to call 911. Help is here.’”

Help that made a difference.

“There was one call that I was able to get a patient to the hospital and have a life-saving surgery done," Alexander said. Because I acted so quickly, she is still with her family.”

Despite spending many weeks away from loved ones and working long days, they said the experience has given them a lot of pride.

“I am actually proud of everybody who went over there," Alexander said. "It was exhausting at times. There was tears shed and there’s still going to be some tears shed, but I have a second family now because of it.”

Following the deployment, they have something to say to folks here in Nebraska.

“If they would see what we went through and saw what we did, they would maybe think a second time of maybe putting a mask on,” Alexander said.