Excerpts from the Windy City Times:
“I was a tomboy from an early age and knew there was something different about me since I was seven,” said longtime Chicago Fire Department (CFD) Paramedic Pat Ciara. She is the highest ranking out lesbian in the history of the CFD.
“I wanted to do traditionally boy things but my mom, who was concerned with what the neighbors thought of our family, kept putting me in dresses and trying to get me to play with dolls,” she said. “I didn’t play with dolls like the other girls did. I used to rip their hair out and carry them by their legs.”
Ciara worked for a number of years after high school and later graduated from Mayfair College ( now Truman College ) in 1975 with an associate’s degree.
“I worked for a private ambulance company after I graduated from Mayfair and, while I was doing that, I went to EMT school in 1975 at Lutheran General, and then paramedic school in 1976 at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood,” said Ciara. “Right after paramedic school, I applied to the CFD not knowing whether I’d get in or not, but I had to try, because that’s what I really wanted to do.
“Before I worked for the CFD, I owned Town & Country Ambulance Company for about 18 months with a straight, male partner named Gerry. We started it in 1978 and then I got my letter from the CFD telling me I’d been accepted into their ranks. This was exactly what I wanted, so I told Gerry I’d have to sever our business partnership. This was in February of 1980.”
Ciara started out at the CFD as a fire-medic. Eight months later, she was promoted to paramedic-in-charge, and stayed in that role until April 1982. After that, she was promoted to field chief. She did that for 12 years and in 1994 was promoted to chief of EMS training.
“As chief, I took care of all the paramedics that were hired and put them through CFD training,” said Ciara. “In 2000, I was promoted to deputy chief paramedic. They assigned me to Field Division One, which is north of Roosevelt Road. I was in charge of 500 paramedics from the lakefront to O’Hare Airport. I did that until 9/11.”
After 9/11, she took over the logistics of the paramedic division.
“When I started at the CFD, I had to bring all of my own equipment including a blood pressure cuff, stethoscope and intubation equipment,” said Ciara. “They had very little supplies on the ambulances…”
While working for the CFD, she completed her education. She earned her Bachelor of Science in business management from National-Louis University in 2001, and her Master of Science degree in industrial relations from Loyola University in 2003.
Ciara was promoted to her final position at the CFD in 2004—district chief, director of personnel. She explained that without her master’s degree she wouldn’t have gotten the job. As district chief, she worked on everyone’s retirement and hiring packets, and medical evaluations of those who were ill or injured on the job.
“In 2005, I had a mild heart attack so I had an angiogram and a stent placed in my heart and went through cardiac rehab,” said Ciara. “I wanted to go back to work but everyone told me I should go on disability. After trying to go back to work, I decided to take the disability payments and technically I’m still an active duty CFD paramedic, but now that I’m 68, I’m looking at officially retiring. I’m proud of my work as a paramedic. I really loved the job and what I accomplished. Some of the people I mentored are now in positions of power. They still call me for advice and that makes me feel really, really good.”
Two of the women who call Ciara for advice are lesbians. She explained that the CFD doesn’t have many lesbians or gay men in their ranks because there’s still a level of homophobia there.
As far as involvement in LGBT organizations, Ciara was a member of LGPA/GOAL Chicago—the LGBT police and fire association. The organization has participated in the Pride Parade in the past and Ciara noted that the reception they got from the crowd was very positive.
“I never really came out to my family or anyone at the fire department,” said Ciara. “I really didn’t have to because, as they say, I’m a hundred footer. I’m very butch-looking.”
Ciara’s brother Michael followed in her footsteps and joined the CFD seven years after she joined.
While working, Ciara said that she talked about her wife the way anyone would talk about their spouse and both women were always included when her co-workers would have social gatherings.
“In 2003, we had a civil-union ceremony in Vermont and got married in Provincetown, Massachusetts, on Aug. 28, 2010, with Michael serving as my best man,” said Ciara. “Since we were already married, all I had to do was send my marriage license to the firefighters pension board to have my status updated when it became legal here.”
thanks Dan
