Josh Varnadoe loves serving and staying connected to the community. Before he became a public health major at Mercer University, he was a firefighter/paramedic and served in the U.S. Coast Guard.
Varnadoe, a senior who attends classes in Macon and lives in Lamar County, used his past career experiences for a class project that provided health resources and information to the public.
His group created a project on fire and smoke safety as part of the Public Health Across the Lifespan course taught by Dr. Becky Larson, assistant professor of public health practice in the College of Health Professions. Each group researched an important health issue in Macon or Georgia and created a poster, activity and/or handout for the Atrium Health Navicent Family Fun Day on Sept. 21 in Macon.
Varnadoe secured donations of kids’ fire helmets, bags, coloring books and other giveaways for the event from the Macon-Bibb County Fire Department and worked with its fire prevention team to ensure his group presented a consistent message.
“Josh is passionate about educating families, and public health students, about fire and smoke safety and has even written his own children’s book about the subject,” Dr. Larson said. “He was instrumental in creating an engaging activity, poster and giveaways to share. Josh’s enthusiasm for the topic is evident when sharing his message with children and families. They had a great time learning about items that could pose a fire risk.”
Varnadoe’s group also created a poster with safety information, including the importance of smoke detectors; sleeping with bedroom doors closed, which can save lives during a fire; and having fire extinguishers and baking soda on hand in the kitchen, where the majority of fires start.
“A lot of people don’t realize about sleeping with the door closed. You want to put that information out there to help people and to prevent injury or death,” he said.
The Mercer team also led children in activities, such as a game called “What’s hot? What’s not?” and shared a virtual children’s book about fire safety that Varnadoe authored and illustrated.
He wrote “Molly on Fire” for his INT 201 course at Mercer in 2020. Because it was the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, students couldn’t read to children in local elementary schools like they normally would. So, they were tasked with recording themselves reading a book, and the videos were shared with the United Way to distribute to children.
“I’ve been an artist since I was 5 years old,” Varnadoe said. “That’s around 35 years I’ve been drawing. Ever since I became a firefighter, I had wanted to write a kid’s book. This was an opportunity to write and illustrate that book.”
His dog, Molly, was playing with his firefighter helmet one day, which inspired Varnadoe to make her the star of his book about fire safety.
Varnadoe served in the Coast Guard for nine years and was a firefighter and paramedic in Henry County for 4 1/2 years. He planned to become a full-time paramedic for a local hospital, until the pandemic hit and derailed that opportunity. He had already left his job at the fire department at that point, which meant he had to make some major decisions about his career.
With an interest in rural health care, he decided he wanted to become a doctor and pursue a bachelor’s degree in public health at Mercer before going to medical school. His goal is to become a family practitioner that serves rural areas.
In addition to being a full-time Mercer student, Varnadoe is a Coast Guard reservist who works as a health service technician at Air Station Savannah Clinic one weekend a month. He also volunteers at the Barnesville Fire Department, as well as with the local 4-H; the Dolly Goodpuppy Society, a dog rescue; and parks and recreation departments. Previous summers, he spent three weeks volunteering as a counselor at a Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta camps for kids with chronic illness, disability or life challenges.
“I volunteer a lot,” he said. “I try to get into the community as much as possible. Going through public health courses, you realize all the different variables that affect the health of the community, and I wanted to see it for myself.”
