Beth Yancey has a unique ability to see the silver lining behind every dark cloud. Beth spent three years as a Mesa Fire Department Connector program volunteer, but a heart condition kept her from entering the fire service on a full-time basis. Beth poured her passion into EMS instead. Just a few years into her career, a serious car wreck sidelined Beth. She worked in an EMS Human Resources position for four years before gaining enough strength to return to the ambulance.

“How can we make a patient’s worst day better?” was a question that Beth, a former EMT instructor, repeatedly posed to her students and continues to ask herself every day. It was from this foundation of care that Beth developed a special friendship with a young leukemia patient. Beth and her partner were at a hospital last year when they noticed the patient pointing at their ambulance. Beth invited the five year old and her mother in for a closer look, and soon Zaelynn—who had previously had trouble walking—was making trips from her room every time Beth was at the hospital. Now in remission, Zaelynn was quick to offer support when Beth’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, which she has since beat.