Black female medic in San Diego retires after 40 years saving lives

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) -- They say not all heroes wear capes.

“Good morning,” says Ruth Hamilton-Wilson as she loads gear into an ambulance.

This one wears a badge and a paramedic uniform.

“She’s repelled down mountains. She’s hung from a rope, trying to rescue people from a car because they’re hanging from a cliff," said Shaunte Jewell, Hamilton-Wilson's daughter.

Hamilton-Wilson packs up all the essentials including cold packs, splints and IV supplies for another day of running calls for American Medical Response.

“This stuff is heavy, and it gets heavier every year,” she said, carrying in the monitor.

This is what Hamilton-Wilson wanted to do her whole life.

“If I can make one person feel better during the day, it’s worth it,” she said.

Her years of work recognized in 2022 when she was honored as the Hero of the Year in La Mesa, creating tangible progress for people who look like her.

“People would see me get out of an ambulance and go, ‘Alright, a Black medic. Oh, okay. Do you!’” she said.

Hamilton-Wilson began her career as the only Black female medic in San Diego County.

“Most people who are racist were raised racist," she said. "They don’t know anything else, so I was able to teach them that yes, there is something else. We’re not all criminals. There are those of us out there who like to help people who want to help people.”

After years of being the only Black woman medic at AMR, she’s now joined by two others.

“What I want is for Black women to know that hey, we can do this because there’s a lot of people who think we can’t,” Hamilton-Wilson said.

For more than 40 years, she’s taken hundred of thousands of calls and save countless lives, but this was her last day on the job.

“There’s times where it’s like okay, have I made a difference in anyone’s life? I mean I know I have as a medic, but have I done it as a person?” she said.

Now that she's retiring, her impact is evident.

“I can’t forget that because you literally saved my husband’s life," a woman said at the retirement party. "No, we won’t ever forget it.”

Several others at Hamilton-Wilson's retirement party shared memories of all the ways she's impacted the community.

“She’s the one that will give you the shirt off her back She’s that person, and she doesn’t ask for anything in return,” said her mentor Lisa Challender.

Hamilton-Wilson finally retires from AMR on Thursday after four decades of making a difference.

“To do this job, you have to have an amazing support system," she said.

Taking a look around at her full retirement party, you can see why she made it all those years.

“I love you, Ruth. I really do," said her former supervisor.

“Everybody has been the priority, so I’m really excited for her to realize that like now she can put that time into herself,” Jewell said.

On her busy final shift of her career, she says bittersweet goodbyes.

“I thanked them for making the last few years of my career amazing, and then I walked down to the medic office and cried,” Hamilton-Wilson said.

Maybe all heroes don’t wear capes.

“She’s a hero for sure. She’s definitely, she’s my hero at least,” Jewell said.

But, this one definitely has superpowers.

“He told me he had to work tomorrow, and I looked at him and said, ‘I don’t. I do not have to work,’” she laughed.

Hamilton-Wilson says her first order of business after retirement is back-to-back cruises with her husband.

After that, she says she may stay on part time to mentor new medics and help more Black women break into the field.