by Sue Ann Rybak

Crystal Yates, the Philadelphia Fire Department’s assistant deputy commissioner for EMS, never imagined she would work for the fire department even though her father was a firefighter. She’s now the first woman to serve as an assistant deputy commissioner for the department.

As a kid growing up in Mt. Airy, she spent many hours at Engine 19 Ladder 8 firehouse at the corner of East Chelten Avenue and Baynton Street in Germantown where her father was stationed most of his career. The fire station had a fire ladder and chief car, and an ambulance she recalled peering into the back of as a six-year-old child.

“If you can picture being a small kid, and they opened those big doors and you look inside and see all that medical equipment, it frightened me,” Yates said. “Whenever we visited, they would let me sit in the seat in the engine, sit in the cage in the ladder, and they would offer me to sit in the medic unit. I was terrified, so I always said, ‘No,’ and cried. It’s kind of funny that, ironically, that became my job.”

Even as a teenager, Yates never envisioned a career as a paramedic because she never saw women at the fire house. It wasn’t until 1985 that Philadelphia hired its first female firefighters.

While Yates never imagined she would be working for the fire department, she always felt compelled to serve. She attended nursing school but recalls feeling a little overwhelmed at the responsibility of “saving someone’s life.” Shortly after turning 18, and with just one semester left of nursing school, she quit school and took a job at an insurance company.

In 1998, Yates’ father told her the City of Philadelphia was offering a scholarship program to send people to a paramedic program.

“Well, I took them up on the offer. And I have loved every bit of it since,” she said.

Yates, a single mother of two small children at the time, began working at Engine 59, Medic Unit 4, in Nicetown, but her family had to make sacrifices.

“My kids grew up with a parent working in the fire service, which means they know what it’s like to not have Mom around for Christmas,” said Yates, who now lives in West Philadelphia. “I grew up knowing that sometimes if it was a special occasion, my Dad couldn’t make it.”

One of her biggest sources of guilt is that her children were unable to do after-school activities or were often late to school because first responders don’t have a typical Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule. Although she loves the job, people don’t realize that families and children of first responders also make sacrifices.

When Yates first started in the Paramedic department just over 20 year ago, there were so few women she knew them all by name. According to Kathy Matheson, communication director for the Philadelphia Fire Department, as of December 2017, the fire department had 316 female employees. (That covers all jobs firefighter, paramedic, EMT, etc.)

“I have a responsibility to make sure women and African Americans and our Paramedic providers are seated at the table,” said Yates. “Here, I have this seat at the table of all the people that make the policies in the fire department. I am one of the decision makers. I have to bring that lens with me. I can’t forget about all those nights I was up making runs. That means something, I need to bring that with me to the table. It’s a responsibility that I appreciate, having a voice at the table.”

Her favorite thing about the job is caring for people in the community.

“I know it sounds corny, but it’s true. Some of the most rewarding times I have had is when I did my job and helped somebody through a crisis–physical, mental, emotional etc.–which leads me to the times when I was unable to help in the way I thought I was there to help. One of the hardest things for me to do in the job is when we respond to a person in cardiac arrest and they pass away in their home.

“And perhaps, they are beyond the point where we can even do CPR or provide any life-saving treatment,” she said. “And what is more heartbreaking, and devastating, is when it would be a young person or a child.”

She recalled sitting on a bench outside the firehouse one day when she was working at 22nd and Huntington Park. A lady drove up to her in a car and called her over.

Yates had responded to a fire at the woman’s home. Her son had died but she was grateful that Yates and her partner had cared for her in that difficult situation.

“’You were really, really compassionate,’” Yates said the woman told her. “’You took the time to take care of me. I just never thought I would see you again to thank you.’”

Yates felt like she had failed on that call because the son had lost his life.

“She just had the worst day of her life, and I can’t imagine that anything I would have done would have caused this lady to take the time to thank me,” Yates said. “That was very impactful for me because it made me realize that no matter what scene I am on, everybody there is dependent upon me and us for what we are there to do. I tell every paramedic class, every person you encounter belongs to somebody. Somebody loves them. I want you to remember that no matter how frustrated you may feel or how tired you are, to treat everybody with care and compassion.”