By Christian Morrow
New Pittsburgh Courier
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — One day after putting in eight hours at PNC Bank, single mother Amera Gilchrist was riding the bus with her special needs son when he began choking on a piece of candy.
“I felt totally helpless, I didn’t know what to do. Luckily, when slipped down, he bumped his head and the candy popped loose,” she said. “But I decided right then, I was never going to be that helpless again.”
A friend of hers was studying to be an emergency medical technician at the time, so Gilchrist read all the books, signed up, completed the course and immediately went to paramedic school, all while still working at the bank and raising her son. She was hired by Pittsburgh as an EMT and now, 14 years later she is the first African-American woman to reach the rank of district chief.
Full story: Gilchrist first Black female EMS district chief