Medic 12-10 responding

WILLOW — If you know Jo Pendleton, it’s probably not her face that’s familiar, but her voice.

“All over the Valley, it’s like I’ll say ‘hello’ to a stranger or somebody I’ve never met and they’ll say, ‘You’re medic 12-10!’” Pendleton said.

Devotees of emergency band radio in the Valley know that hers is often the first voice over the air after dispatchers page out emergency responders in Willow. And if you’ve heard her talk, you might not be surprised to hear her nickname locally is Grandma Jo.

“I’m the grandma in the community,” Pendleton said. “That just kind of helps people relax when they see Grandma Jo is on the ambulance.”

Pendleton, 71, has been responding with the Willow ambulance service for the past six years, though she had a prior stint as a Talkeetna medic in the early 1990s. She’s a medic and an ambulance driver and an ambulance-driving instructor.

The borough’s Director of Emergency Services, Dennis Brodigan, said Pendleton’s dedication to the job is what brought her recognition in October as part of the Elks Lodge’s yearly Law, Order and Safety Appreciation Night. Brodigan served as the presenter and handed Pendleton her plaque.

“She embodies the true spirit of our emergency responders. She attends all of the training sessions up in Willow, she responds on almost 100 percent of the calls up there. Day or night she just is giving so much back to the Willow community in terms of her dedication to the emergency medical system up there,” Brodigan said.

Asked how she manages to respond so frequently, Pendleton said, simply, that unlike some of her colleagues who have demanding day jobs and houses full of children to raise, she’s got time.

“I am retired, so to speak, so I have plenty of time to do these things, and it’s a great way for someone to stay active in their senior citizen years,” Pendleton said.

She sees a lot of other benefits in the job. She volunteers a lot with the Lion’s Club and at local events. Ambulance work is in that same vein. She also enjoys the kudos she receives from people she’s helped.

“I like those rewards, and I’m also an adrenaline junky. When the pager goes off — whoop! Through the roof! And you’re ready to go,” Pendleton said.

Pendleton moved to Alaska 42 years ago. It was the culmination of a dream she’d had since she was in elementary school. She wasn’t much of a reader then, she said, but someone put a copy of Jack London’s “Call of the Wild” in her hand. So Mr. London sparked the dream, but television helped.

“There was a program called the ‘Ice Palace’ on TV back in the ’50s and it was all about this little community in Alaska,” Pendleton said. “I can remember that was one of my favorite shows. So it was like, ‘go to Alaska.’”

So, at age 29, she and her family drove the Alaska Highway. And it wasn’t a small family. There were five kids and a German shepherd.

“It was a new experience every corner,” Pendleton said. “It was a wonderful trip.”

Pendleton drove a school bus in Anchorage for years. But eventually her kids had grown and gone, and the Anchorage School District started pushing for early retirements. Pendleton said a lot of her friends were moving to Talkeetna, so she took the retirement and moved north.

“I thought I’d be a rocking-chair grandma and bake sugar cookies. Um, no,” Pendleton said. “So I applied for school bus driving through Tundra Tours.”

She was back behind the wheel of a school bus. Later, she signed on with tour operators to pilot their buses. She joked that one nice difference between the two jobs was that the tourists actually wanted to be on the bus.

“These folks coming to visit Alaska, they’re so excited to be here and it was a great thing to be able to share what it was like to live here and do the tours,” Pendleton said.

And the job came with a few perks.

“You get lots of cruise discounts so I was able to travel all over the world,” Pendleton said.

Pendleton said she has decided not to drive the buses when summer rolls around. She wants to stay in Willow for the summer. She won’t miss that daily commute into Anchorage. And, of course, that means more time for driving ambulances.

Pendleton said she hopes as a senior citizen working on an ambulance she sets an example; one that other active seniors might follow. But she also wants to be an example to the younger folk; that elders are capable of doing good work.

When she thinks about her future, the ambulance job is always there. It’s a job Pendleton said she has no intention of quitting any time soon, at least not so long as she’s got her health.

“I plan on staying in the Willow community and I plan on being a medic for as long as I can and if it comes to the point health-wise where I’m not able to take proper care of the patients, then it’s time to step away and do other things.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.