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S10 E13 - LA County’s First Paramedic Pioneer, Bill Ridgeway
LA County’s First Paramedic Pioneer
Bill was raised in Oklahoma by his grandmother, a sharecropper’s daughter who lived through the Great Depression. He grew up surrounded by love and timeless country wisdom.
Despite facing minor learning disabilities, Bill found his passion in sports when his family moved to Downey, California. In 9th grade, this passion transformed his life. He became a member of the Visigoths and the Y-Club, and later pursued a career as a draftsman. At just 19, he balanced attending Long Beach State in the mornings with working on the Apollo Space Program at North American Aviation in the afternoons. During his final year of college, he became an Army reservist and joined the LA County Fire Department.
In 1969, Bill volunteered for a groundbreaking pilot program called the Heart Rescue Unit, which would later evolve into the paramedics we know today. He cherishes the exhilaration of both bringing new life into the world and reviving it when necessary. Recently, paramedics celebrated their 50th anniversary. As a technical advisor on set for the TV show hit, “Emergency,” he helped make the show more realistic.
Bill has a fundamental belief that for every problem, there is a solution.
With this mindset, he launched three successful businesses.
His advice? “The value of your word is priceless.”
