Burch hoping to continue public service

Friday, Aug. 27, 2010

Christy Burch of North Beach comes from a family of public servants — police, firefighters and paramedics. So it was only natural for Burch to also become a paid firefighter and paramedic in 2001 after four years of volunteering.

But a bad injury last September forced Burch into early retirement from the Prince George's County Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department.

"It's almost been a year now. I can't believe it," Burch, 31, said.

Burch's injury required spinal surgery that, in many ways, laid the foundation for her latest venture into public service — running for Calvert County commissioner.

"Once I had my spinal surgery, I walked a lot slower on the [North Beach] boardwalk," Burch said. "I wasn't jogging anymore and I ended up talking to a lot of people and started hearing the same things over and over."

After her surgery, Burch began teaching almost immediately. She is now an adjunct faculty member at Anne Arundel and Prince George's county community colleges, teaching students how to be paramedics.

Burch's first priority as commissioner would be to make it easier to either open or expand a small business, but her platform centers on her experiences in public safety, education and as a patient. If elected, Burch said she would push to "fully fund" teachers and "stop reneging on contracts," advocate for law enforcement and fire and rescue services and recruit medical specialists to the county so that fewer citizens must drive long distances to receive specialized care as she did.

Walking the campaign trail has been both gratifying and draining, Burch said.

"I've been door-knocking like crazy and been getting a really positive response and that energizes me even though campaigning is exhausting," she added.

Burch said she would have never considered running for public office five years ago, but she wasn't counting on fate cutting her first career short.

"Now that I'm disabled, I'm looking to serve the public in a less physically demanding way," she said. "...I believe things happen for a reason."