TRUDY STRYGANEK, ONE OF CHICAGO’S 1ST FEMALE PARAMEDICS, DIES AT 67
1 Trudy “Casey” Stryganek was born into show business, first performing as a young child with her family acrobatic troupe and then as a teen with her twin sister in the Ice Follies figure skating show.
The Chicago native entertained countless people across the nation. But her most important contributions to the world came later.
After retiring from professional skating, Stryganek became one of the Chicago Fire Department’s first female paramedics in 1976. She later launched a successful emergency medical training program.
“She was a groundbreaking pioneer,” Chicago Fire Deputy District Chief Jeff Lyle said.
Stryganek, 67, a Hawthorn Woods resident for the past 20 years, died Sunday after collapsing at her home.
Stryganek joined the family acrobatic act when she was 5. They performed in professional variety shows under the name “Casey” — her father’s first name — because Stryganek was difficult to pronounce, recalled twin sister Judy Zack, also of Hawthorn Woods.
When Stryganek and her sister were 11, they received ice skates as Christmas presents from their parents. The skates were a “run of the mill” model, Zack recalled, but the girls were hooked.
“We took to the ice like it was a natural gift from God,” Zack said.
The girls turned their skating ability into a new act — the Casey Twins. They skated for audiences at malls, theaters, hotels and other venues.
About two years later, the girls were invited to join the Ice Follies, a touring production that also featured figure skating champions.
“It was the premier ice show,” Zack said. “Twelve months a year we traveled.”
The sisters left the show in their early 20s after Trudy Stryganek tore a hamstring during a performance in New York’s Madison Square Garden. The surgeries that followed inspired her to pursue a new career: medicine.
In February 1976, Stryganek joined the Chicago Fire Department as a paramedic. The department had hired its first female paramedic less than two years earlier.
Back then, fire stations didn’t have separate bathrooms or sleeping quarters for female employees, Lyle said. Female applicants had to take the same written and physical tests as their male counterparts, too.
“Essentially it was a man’s world, ( an) all- boy’s club,” Lyle said. “No special accommoda- tions were provided.”
Stryganek left the Fire Department in 1979. She worked as a physician assistant and then created a company based at Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago called Emergency Medical Training that prepares people for jobs as paramedics.
In addition to her sister, Stryganek’s survivors include her son Brandon and a brother, Casey Jr.