World's Youngest Certified Female Paramedic, Bianca Maria Oană sets world record

September 2, 2024

Targu Mures, Romania--Bianca Maria Oană, student in the twelfth grade at the National College of Saint Sava in Bucharest, Romania, majoring in Natural Sciences, graduated from the paramedic course in Targu Mures, becoming the World's Youngest Certified Female Paramedic, according to the WORLD RECORD ACADEMY.

"Bianca Maria Oană is a 12th grade student at the Saint Sava National College in Bucharest, majoring in Natural Sciences. She is enjoying the last vacation of her high school life as it could not be more fitting for her nature: doing guards at SMURD and accumulating specialized knowledge in the BAETC (Basic & Advanced Emergency Training Camp), an important summer camp for medical students, being the youngest participant and the only student accepted," the Adevarul newspaper says.

"Bianca says she knew she wanted to be a doctor since grade school, when she had her first encounters, both positive and negative, with the medical system. What is certain is that they motivated her to do everything possible to become a lifesaver. In the 9th grade, he enrolled in the first research program, at the Boston Leadership Institute. It was an intense two weeks, the young woman confesses, and the ones that opened her appetite for research.

"She attended various courses, became a Red Cross volunteer and even ended up teaching first aid courses at events. Regarding the teaching experience, Bianca says that she had an unexpected surprise when, as a paramedic, she arrived at a medical case, and the patient's grandson had already started resuscitation based on the concepts he learned during the "Resuscitation Marathon", manifestation within which she also taught."

"The vacation between class 10th and class 11th gave him a tremendous opportunity. She was the first student from Romania admitted, with a scholarship, to the summer medicine program at the Perelman School of Medicine (Penn Medicine Summer Program)," the Adevarul newspaper says.

"The scholarship allowed me to arrive in the USA, in Pennsylvania. The course was four weeks. There were quite long periods in which I stayed in Intensive Care, in the Emergency Room, and I saw how everything unfolded, I interacted with patients, I learned many basic and specialized skills", stated the student. She was accredited by the American Heart Associasion in first aid, she saw live surgeries, all the experience in the US convinced her that she had chosen the right path."

""She accumulated a large number of hours as a volunteer, progress was also seen as a result of the summer school experience, so her instructors recommended that she take the paramedic course, which she completed, she says, with the highest high average (10 in the theoretical test and 9.50 in the practical test). Thus he became the youngest certified paramedic.

"The next step was to transfer, also at the suggestion of his instructors, as a paramedic to Târgu-Mureș, the center that represents the basis of emergency medicine in Romania. He did it during the spring break, and since April he is a volunteer at ISU Mureș and works here."

"A paramedic is a healthcare professional trained in the medical model, whose main role has historically been to respond to emergency calls for medical help outside of a hospital. Paramedics work as part of the emergency medical services (EMS), most often in ambulances.

"They also have roles in emergency medicine, primary care, transfer medicine and remote/offshore medicine. The scope of practice of a paramedic varies between countries, but generally includes autonomous decision making around the emergency care of patients.

"Not all ambulance personnel are paramedics, although the term is sometimes used informally to refer to any ambulance personnel. In some English-speaking countries, there is an official distinction between paramedics and emergency medical technicians (or emergency care assistants), in which paramedics have additional educational requirements and scope of practice.

"The paramedic role is closely related to other healthcare positions, especially the emergency medical technician, with paramedics often being at a higher grade with more responsibility and autonomy following substantially greater education and training. The primary role of a paramedic is to stabilize people with life-threatening injuries and transport these patients to a higher level of care (typically an emergency department)." (Wikipedia)

"SMURD is an emergency rescue service based in Romania. SMURD is a structure subordinated to the Romanian General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU). The name is the Romanian acronym for "Serviciul Mobil de Urgență, Reanimare și Descarcerare", which means Mobile Emergency Service for Reanimation and Extrication.

"It was created and has been coordinated since its inception by doctor Raed Arafat. The first SMURD unit was created in Târgu Mureș, a city in the center of Transylvania, in 1990. One of the notable co-founders is a Romanian Firefighter Lt. Col. Mircea Pintilie who coordinated the activity between fire brigades from the three countries, Romania, Norway and Great Britain.

"Now SMURD is a complementary service, with bases covering many parts of the country, still expanding. It deals with the worst emergency cases, all in a very good collaboration with the regular Ambulance Service (Serviciul de Ambulanţă). Also, HEMS (helicopter emergency medical system) was enforced in six cities (Târgu Mureș, Bucharest, Iași, Arad, Craiova and Constanța), while in other cities the system is only ambulance based. Depending on the situation, police and army helicopters are also being used. The emergency system used by this service is based on the European 112 emergency phone number, now also used in Romania for all the emergencies (police, firefighters, ambulance)."(Wikipedia)

"Raed Arafat is a Syrian-born Romanian intensive care physician of Palestinian origin, specialized in anesthesiology. He founded the Mobile Emergency Service for Resuscitation and Extrication (SMURD) with the help from the Romanian Fire Fighting Brigade represented by Lt.-Col Mircea Pintilie. He was also the coordinator of Mureș County Emergency Services until 2007, when he was invited to take the position of Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Health to deal with the development of emergency medical care in Romania.

"In 2014 he accepted the position of Secretary of State at the Ministry of Internal Affairs to head the newly created Department for Emergency Situations under which all emergency services are coordinated including fire and rescue, civil protection, prehospital medical emergency response, air rescue and emergency departments. He is still serving at the Ministry of Internal Affairs in this position.

"Following the 1989 Revolution, Arafat contemplated leaving for France, but his application was rejected,[2] so he concentrated instead on creating an emergency service in Târgu Mureș (which he originally financed with personal funds). In 1991, he created SMURD, a mobile emergency service which began collaborating with the Romanian firefighting service[2] and the Fire service of Scotland, working for it as a volunteer until 1998, when he gained Romanian citizenship." (Wikipedia)