Under the Sisterhood

Marching to the Rescue: Firefighter Shannon Churchwell’s Call to Serve

Elizabeth Elfenbein Season 5 Episode 10

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0:00 | 37:02

Today, we’re Marching for Change with Shannon Churchwell, a mother, daughter, and firefighter/paramedic with over 20 years of service in San Antonio, Texas, and a woman who wears many hats (sometimes literally). Shannon’s career has spanned medical strike teams, mobile integrated health, mental health response, and medical bike operations, all while working 24-hour shifts every fourth day.

She is also happily married and the mother of a beautifully complex family—biological, step, foster, and adoptive—mostly grown, with one 13-year-old still at home. Beyond the uniform, Shannon is an artist, an avid sun-soaker, and a world-traveling roller skater.

Somewhere along the way, the question stopped being how do I do it all? and became what actually serves me? In her later years, Shannon began the deeper work—learning when to say no, honoring her mental and physical health, and redefining strength not as endurance, but as intention.


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