20 Years, 20 Stories – Jamine Doty: Because Everyone is Deserving
Years Active: 2015-Present
Jamine Doty’s first major experience with emergency response came when she and her sister helped save the life of a Texas Department of Public Safety officer who was hit by a car as he got out of his vehicle. They were high school students at the time. “An hour after we got home, it all hit me. I had been a lifeguard for years, so I knew first aid and the importance of controlling the situation, but this was different. He had been knocked out of his boots when the car hit him, and the people in that car weren’t doing well, either,” Jamine said. “It felt good to be able to help, to make a difference in saving someone’s life.”
Her natural inclination to help people played a role in joining TEXSAR in 2015. It was soon after the infamous Wimberley Flood Event on Memorial Day in 2015 that long-time TEXSAR member Bill Sleep suggested to Jamine and her sister that they join TEXSAR. “After the flood, everyone in Wimberley that could help, did help. It was such a tragedy, but it felt good to make a difference. I’m an ‘in-the-field’ sort of person, not a command center type. Joining TEXSAR fit my interests in the work and in people perfectly.”
Jamine says that she has a deep sense of wanting to help people. “If I can provide an answer to one, save one, listen to one…then I feel like I am doing what I should. I don’t believe families can ever get full closure from the loss of a loved one, but maybe our efforts can help provide some peace in missing person cases.”
As Jamine recounts some of her more memorable missions, one thread runs through them all: everyone deserves help. “We don’t come into a mission with any preconceptions about who is involved or the type of lives they have lived. We know help is needed and we know they, their families and the agency personnel we help deserve it.” She believes that her personal experiences with a relative who had been homeless while dealing with mental health issues helped enforce her belief that there can be no judgement in the work that TEXSAR performs…only service with empathy and grit.
Jamine deployed for two weeks during Hurricane Harvey. She spent a lot of that time in the Wharton area. “It was devastating,” she said. “The challenges the people faced were incredible. I drove into Houston to get insulin that had been flown in for people and another day I helped get a woman to the airport so she could go to family in California. There was nothing left of the home she had.”
Jamine’s stories serve as reminders that search-and-rescue missions involve a wide range of needs, ranging from searching for human remains of someone who has been missing for years, to rescuing someone in imminent danger from fast or rising waters, to helping individuals cope with devastation, and much more.
“It has been ten years (as a member of TEXSAR) and I still love it,” Jamine said. “It is the human condition and connections that make this work special. I think of those we have helped and those I have served alongside, and I know that I will be doing this work as long as I can.”
Learn more about TEXSAR at www.TEXSAR.org.
TEXSAR: 20 Years, 20 Stories, is a series of people-centric stories that celebrate the history of TEXSAR’s heroics and humanity as its volunteers continue their mission of ‘Texans helping Texans’ with Service above Self. The sequence of stories and profiles will come together in 2024 and 2025, celebrating the nonprofit’s 20th anniversary. To read more, click here.
