By EMS1 Staff
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Six female EMS students are working to change gender dynamics in the EMS industry.
The first-ever all-female paramedic cohort at Ozarks Technical Community College Waynesville Center features six women with a range of experience in emergency medicine.
Kylea Traughber and Samantha Gordineer are combat medic specialists at Fort Leonard Wood, a local military base, while others in the cohort are new EMTs or EMTs with years of experience.
“Everyone brings something different to the table,” Traughber said. “We’ve done a great job taking turns at lifting up or encouraging those who might not be as experienced as some in a particular area.”
Despite the encouragement, members of the cohort still get dismissed or question based on their gender.
“Patients will sometimes tell us that we’re too small to be paramedics,” Traughber said. “We’ll hear comments like that when we’re on the job or performing clinicals.”
But that doesn’t stop them.
“I just brush it off or let it motivate me, depending on the situation,” Tatiana Bashant, an EMT, said. “I’m a strong woman, I know what I’m capable of.”
The cohort is on track to complete the paramedic program in December.