Dedicated to serve
This is first of three articles about female first responders.
Doreen “Puddie” Taggart never intended to become an EMT back in 1980. If you ask her today what serving the Slippery Rock community is like, she’ll tell you it’s a gift from God.
“Not everyone can say they like their job, or that they love their job,” she said. “I’m more about people thanking me as I walk out the door than the paycheck, you know?”
Taggart recently stepped down as the medical officer for Slippery Rock EMS, after serving her community for 16 years in that role. While she still serves as secretary on the Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company board and as its bookkeeper, she said her love for the service makes leaving full-time difficult.
“It’s been a struggle weaning off from full-time,” she said. “It’s definitely rewarding, helping people and being there for them.”
At age 17, Taggart worked in a local Slippery Rock drugstore, and would walk to get the daily newspapers from a newsstand. The woman who worked there was involved with the Slippery Rock ambulance service, and encouraged Taggart to pursue a EMT certification.
“I’d pick up newspapers every day, and she’d say ‘you need to do this!’ So I took a class at 17, and for a few months I wasn’t even allowed to run on the truck with them until I was 18,” she said.
Taggart said during her years as medical officer, she usually was the only woman on the team.
“When I started (in EMS), a lot of firefighter’s wives were in the ambulance services. As life has changed, I’ve worked almost always with guys,” she said. “As I get older, the lifting gets harder ... the males can outlift me now.”
The challenges that come with emergency services also have changed over the years, according to Taggart.
“Not everyone can look at blood or deal with crisis situations. The fatalities are always hard, or the younger fatalities are always the hardest part of the job,” she said. “There’s more overdoses ... seeing these moms deal with younger kids and drugs ... in the 1980s you didn’t see that.”
Despite the sadder days on the job, Taggart said people would be surprised at how many emergency calls have good outcomes. Because of the size of Slippery Rock, the EMS team often serves those they know.
“A majority of our calls have positive outcomes; you do have to take not so positive too,” she said. “I’ve been blessed to run in a small little community where most people know each other.”
EMTs always are refreshing their knowledge and training to best help people, Taggart said. Just recently, taking blood-glucose levels was added to the responsibility of first responders.
“In the 1980s, we weren’t allowed to do breathing treatments or take blood-glucose levels. Now we can do that, and it’s probably going to progress even more,” she said of the field.
One of Taggart’s favorite “on-the-job" stories happened a few years ago when she helped deliver a baby.
“The mom was too far along for us to transport her, so she had the baby at home. A paramedic and I delivered the baby. We still see that family around, and every time I see them they always thank us,” she said. “We see people leave the Earth, but delivering babies is more of what I want to do.”
If you ask Taggart why she never has switched careers, she’ll say she would like to know that too. For her, it’s all about serving.
“Being in a small community, people always tell me thank you. But I’m not doing anything great or spectacular. I think people appreciate seeing a familiar face.”
