Savanna Scholl’s first stop after returning from deployment in the Middle East was Sheetz.

“It was 3 in the morning, and I really missed the food in the U.S.,” she said, laughing. “I got mac-and-cheese bites and a milkshake. It was great.”

Scholl, a paramedic at Eureka Fire-Rescue in Tarentum, is a member of the Air Force Reserves stationed out of the 911th Airlift Wing at Pittsburgh International Airport.

She returned recently from a six-month stint in Qatar, a country in western Asia bordered by Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf.

“I was happy to be deployed, but I’m happier to get back to work at Eureka,” said Scholl, 25.

The Shaler native credits her passion for public safety to her high school program at A.W. Beattie Career Center.

“I thought I wanted to be a police officer, but I earned my EMT at Beattie and I fell in love with it,” Scholl said.

Landing a job at Eureka sealed the deal. The emergency service team covers Tarentum, Brackenridge, Fawn, East Deer and Frazer.

“They’re all little towns that have festivals and parades, and everyone knows everyone,” Scholl said. “I love that. You don’t see that as often anymore.”

Chief Brad James said his crew is thrilled to welcome Scholl back to duty.

“When she joined, we knew she served in the military,” James said. “But as much as we support that, we are equally happy to have her back.”

Eureka, at nearly 90 years old, struggles with the same plight as most EMS crews across the country — dismal insurance reimbursements, decreased donations and low volunteerism.

The group serves 12,000 people.

It’s in merger talks with Citizens Hose in Harrison, and leaders are considering an EMS authority where residents of member communities would share the costs to sustain EMS in the future.

“We’re very pleased to have Savanna interested in us,” James said. “There’s not enough of trained, dedicated and qualified first responders to go around, and we appreciate her commitment to us.”

While Scholl said it’s an odd feeling to step away from her typical day-to-day life for six months, she was eager to deploy.

“I didn’t know where I was going, and I wasn’t picky,” she said. “I enjoy it because it’s the only time I can do my military job.”

Scholl is a medic for air evacuations but she doesn’t fly with the injured servicemen. Her role is enroute patient staging, which means “packaging them and preparing them to take off.”

She enlisted in the military in 2018 and was deployed for the first time in 2021, also to Qatar.

Scholl is taking a few weeks of leave to visit with family and tend to other business before she officially is back on the job in Tarentum.

Until then, she plans to soak up the Western Pennsylvania weather — especially if it’s cold and rainy.

“Over there, it’s 118 degrees, full sun and it never rains,” she said. “I missed the chill in the air.”

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