By Mike Crowley
The Meadville Tribune
TOWNVILLE, Pa. — After decades as an emergency medical technician (EMT), it’s easy for Bill Taylor of Townville to explain why he continues to return to the ambulance.
“I love taking care of people,” he said last week. “It makes me feel really good if I can make them feel good at a bad time.”
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Taylor, 65, is the ambulance chief for Townville Volunteer Fire Department and Ambulance Service. His career in emergency medicine — really his second career — began in 2000 and since then he has spent time at Meadville Area Ambulance Service as a paid EMT and as a volunteer in Townville.
His first career — one that he continues today even after allegedly retiring a few years ago — was operating Taylor Tool Co. in Townville. He has also taught EMT classes through Indiana University of Pennsylvania for more than a decade and earlier this year became an assistant coroner for Crawford County.
For his friend Sue Vidoni, it’s the contributions to public health and safety of Taylor and people like him that really stand out.
“In a world where volunteerism is much less common than it used to be,” Vidoni wrote in nominating Taylor as one of the Tribune’s 2025 Difference Makers, “this man continues to work hard to ensure that people who need skilled emergency response will get it.”
What makes Taylor’s contributions truly stand out, according to Vidoni, is the ripple effect: Not only is Taylor making a difference, but the many people he has affected are making their own contributions.
To start, there’s his family. Taylor’s wife, Kathie Taylor, worked in emergency medicine as well and is now part of Townville VFD’s auxiliary. Their sons have followed them into EMT work as well — Shane is a flight paramedic and soon-to-be nurse with STAT MedEvac and Steven volunteers as an EMT with Townville. On top of that are Bill Taylor’s EMT students. His latest class of 16 wrapped up last last week and he estimated there have been more than 600 over the years — so many that he doesn’t always recognize them when he runs into them, but enough also that he sees some from time to time on call, some still working as EMTs, others having gone on to become nurses, physician assistants or even doctors.
The feeling that comes from working with students compares with the satisfaction of helping people as an EMT.
“When that light bulb goes off,” Taylor said of students making connections in the classroom, “I feel like a million bucks.”
Though Taylor’s involvement in EMS work didn’t begin until he was 40, he traces his interest back to when he was younger.
“Basically, I’m one of those old guys who started watching ‘Emergency’ on TV,” he said, referring to the Randolph Mantooth show that aired through much of the 1970s. “I wanted to be Johnny Gage .”
That was a different time, Taylor added, when things were a bit slower and people had more time — and perhaps more drive — for volunteerism. The need is still there, he added, and anyone interested in volunteering in Townville — whether it be with the auxiliary, the business side of things, in emergency response, or even simply washing the trucks — should contact him at the fire station at (814) 967-2324. EMT classes run throughout the year.
“Some people say, ‘I could never do what you do,’” he said, “but if you can — the feeling you have when you help somebody, I can’t even explain it. It’s such a good feeling to make somebody feel better.”
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