2024 Blue KC Answering the Call Honoree Laura Wiruth – month of August
Called to Duty
Even as a little girl, Laura Wiruth wanted to be in the military. Her father was in the Navy and she wanted to follow in his footsteps. You could say she felt the “call to duty” at an early age.
But when she was 15, she was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect and had to undergo open-heart surgery. That eliminated her from a chance with any of the armed forces.
But that didn’t diminish her desire to serve. After graduating from high school, she got a job at the local prison in Hutchinson, Kansas, and worked there for seven years. While she was there, she went to school and got her fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) certifications so she could become a paramedic.
She served in that role for 15 years before taking her current role as the EMS liaison at Overland Park Regional Medical Center. That seems like a wide range of jobs, but they all fit one narrow genre: helping others.
“Mr. Rogers was my hero growing up,” she said of the television host Fred Rogers. “I don’t remember what the quote was exactly, but it was something like, ‘When something really bad happens or tragedy strikes, look for the helpers.’ I thought, ‘I don’t want to just look for the helpers. I want to be the one that people look to when they need help.’”
That desire was heightened by a teaching nun at the Catholic school she attended. Every time she heard a siren, whether it was police, fire or ambulance, she would stop what she and the students were doing in the class and have the kids “bow our heads and pray for the people that needed the sirens and the people that were behind the sirens,” Wiruth said. “I remember thinking, even back then, ‘This prayer is fine, but I want to do more. I want to really help people.’”
Though she is no longer in the field, she is still helping people at the Regional Medical Center. In her current role, she helps keep the relationships and communications going between EMS workers and hospital staff. The goal is the best possible outcome for patients.
It’s not an antagonistic relationship. She doesn’t have to bring two opposing sides together. But paramedics and administrators have busy schedules. It helps having someone who’s been in both roles to help bring cohesiveness.
“We all have the same goal, we just have different ideas of how to get to that goal,” she said. “There can be a lack of understanding between administration and field work. I get to bring those two together and help them understand how to be a little bit better.”
Last year, she instituted an annual “day of resilience” open to all first responders and medical staff. They provided staff with resources they didn’t realize were available. They talked about how work stresses affect people, and, more importantly, what to do about it.
That is why Wiruth is the August recipient of the “Blue KC Answering the Call” award, sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City benefiting The Battle Within. The Battle Within (TBW) is an organization that helps former military personnel and first responders cope with the sometimes-hidden trauma of their careers.
Wiruth is an alum of TBW. She started the relationship as a volunteer, but soon realized that she needed to experience it herself. So she went through a revenant journey, which, “opened my eyes to a lot of different things that I thought I knew.” Now, she recommends TBW as one of the options for the first responders who she helps.
“The Battle Within means hope for a better day, a better mindset,” she said. “Now that I’ve experienced it, I’m able to put those things into my daily life and put them to work.
“It means hope more than anything.”
For more information on the Blue KC Answering the Call program, please click here
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