BROWN COUNTY, Texas — Miranda Peters was born into a line of women servant leaders.
"When I was in the eighth grade, my grandmother was a first responder in the small town that I grew up in, and I went to a call with her to help her. And I guess that was my first real 9-1-1 EMS experience," Peters said.
She chose to follow her grandmother's footsteps. Today, she is a licensed paramedic and shift leader for AMR Medical Transportation, the company that provides emergency medical services for Brown County.
Peters said she is seeing a shift in gender dynamics for new paramedics coming into the workforce.
"I don't really see it as more of a male profession right now. I know it was at first. When I first started as with EMS and Brown County, It was not uncommon for me to be the only girl on the shift," she said.
But things have changed in Brown County. The men have become out numbered by almost a dozen full-time women EMTs and paramedics.
On Wednesday, Dec. 8, personnel started preparing for a shift. The workers looked around and realized the shift was entirely women.
"It was just kind of an accident. It just happened. We noticed that we were all females on the shift and we realized that it was really rare around here. Lately we would have a lot of women, but we'll have like one or two males too. And that was just the first time there wasn't any," Peters said.
All of the women on shift said the time working together was a positive and empowering experience.
"It went really well. We were supportive of each other. Any time that we thought that they need two units, we went ahead and took two units. But we were very supportive, made sure that everyone was okay with what they were doing," EMT Jennifer McCurdy said.
The coworkers are more like a family. It is important in such a stressful career, especially on days when calls go badly.
"If the people you have at home aren't in EMS or healthcare, they don't really understand because they haven't see the types of stuff we've seen. So, having people that have been there, having people that understand that, it's a lot easier for me when I can just talk about it and have somebody who understands rather than have somebody who just feels sorry for me," Peters said.
McCurdy said sometimes people are surprised when she and her coworkers jump out of a truck into an emergency situation, but these women prove they are more than up to the challenge.
"We have some patients that sit there and say, 'Well, I hope you brought the muscle," and we're like, 'Well, we are the muscle,'" McCurdy said.