Medic2medic Podcast

Episode 200: Jake Jones is a Paramedic in the UK and has written a book called "Can You Hear Me" Jake Jones is his penned name and we discuss why he uses a pseudonym. EMS is Jake's second career. Why choose EMS? Jake answers this question and the reason why he chose EMS. Jake provides an insider look into EMS in the UK with this book. Each Episode (Chapters) in the book provides the reader with intimate details, challenges and the reality of the job. The book is not available in the United States as of this airing. The book is available via the publisher Quercus.Note: This is Medic2Medic Podcast's 200 Episode. The little podcast has allowed me to explore, meet new friends and colleagues, present at a national conference, learn, and hopefully entertain and provide a voice for those in this great profession of EMS and Public Safety.  I want to thank my family, Cary Area EMS, guests, listeners, and the EMS Podcast Community for the support. I am humbled and grateful. Keep listening. 

Episode 199 is Greg Howard. Greg is the Director of Sales for emsCharts. Greg has over 15 years dedicated to the improvement of healthcare through data. Greg is also from Pittsburgh and we got to talk about our early careers in Pittsburgh and how our paths are very similar. We talk about his path in EMS, emsCharts start, and EMS data and what we should be using the data for. 

I am home recovering from rotator surgery. The other day I was lucky to catch the first 2 episodes of Emergency!. I got to thinking about that pioneering show. As I was listening to the politician try to convince Dr. Bracket to testify and called him a pioneer of Emergency Medicine. In this re-podcast, I had the honor to talk with a pioneer of EMS and Emergency Medicine Dr. Ron Stewart. I am double lucky as he was one of my medical directors and mentors in my career. I am humbled that I have had 2 guests connected to the show Emergency (Randolph Mantooth is #30) on Medic2Medic. Dr. Stewart played a key role in the show as you will hear as well as many accomplishments in EMS and Emergency Medicine. 

Episode 198 is Curt Varone. Curt has over 40 years of fire service experience and 30 years as a practicing attorney. Curt retired after 29 years as a Deputy Assistant Chief. Our discussion surrounds the arming of firefighters. Besides this hot topic, we talk about his career, his two books he wrote, and being an attorney.

Episode 197 is Safe Call Now. Michael Maini and Dan Phillips are part of this Peer Support driven program. Michael and Dan have extensive law enforcement experience and each has their own story that leads them to Safe Call Now.  Safe Call Now is a confidential comprehensive 24-Hour crisis referral service for all public safety professionals and their families. Michael and Dan discuss their careers, own battles, the start of Safe Call Now and why this crisis line is different. If you need to talk to someone you can call Safe Call Now at 206-459-3020

Episode 196 is Eric Chase. Eric's story is a fascinating one that has helped him to find his joy in life. His path through the Army, Law Enforcement, Firefighting, and EMS is just part of the story. After having a heart attack in his 30s to suffering a cardiac arrest a few years later and how he bounced back from obstacles is worth the listen. Find out how he did this and found his joy that led to the creation of EMSIMPROV.

Mental health and wellbeing of EMS, Police, Firefighters, and Telecommunicators continues to be a subject that we either talk about or ignore. The public safety arena is making small inroads.  Here is a re-podcast of Dan DeGryse who is making a difference. Episode 104: Chief Dan DeGryse from the Chicago Fire Department joins the podcast this week. Chief DeGryse has 28 years with CFD and holds the rank as Battalion Chief/EMT. What is unique about Chief DeGryse is that he is the Director of the Rosecrance Florian Program. Rosecrance is a leading provider of behavioral health services with nationally recognized addiction treatment programs. Rosecrance is a place for veterans and public safety providers can go to who needs help. The Chief shares his start at CFD and his career path. He shares his personal story and how that led him to become the Coordinator of the Chicago Firefighters' Union Local 2 Employee Assistance Program for 14 years. You will hear during our conversation the importance of firefighter and E

Episode 195: David LaCombe is the Vice President of Prehospital Programs at Resuscitation Quality Improvement (RQI) a partnership between the American Heart Association and Laerdal Medical.  David worked in Emergency Medical Services for 25 years as a paramedic, educator, and senior leader.  David is leading a breakthrough effort to double survival from witnessed out of hospital cardiac arrest. We discuss David's passion for cardiac arrest survival, partnerships, Resuscitation Academies, RQI, and how he became involved in EMS. 

Episode 194: Ben Clincy is a full-time paramedic as well as a writer/artist and the creator of the popular comic strip “EMScapades". He’s also the star of the “EMScapades: OFF DUTY” podcast and a stand-up comedian who’s performed in clubs, colleges, theatres, bars, and other venues nationwide for more than 14 years. Clincy discusses EMS, life as a comedian, behind the scenes of one of his gigs, the creation of his popular comic strip, and his podcast. Visit his website at EMScapades.com.

Episode 193 is Ernesto Rodriguez. Chief Rodriquez is the Chief of the Austin-Travis County EMS service in Austin, Texas. He has over 38 years of experience in EMS. Chief Rodriguez is one of six Improvement Advisors in the nation who specialize in emergency medical services and has completed training through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. He has introduced improvement science to Austin-TravisCounty EMS and has developed an Improvement Team within the agency.  The assaults that keep occurring to our EMS providers continue to rise and Chief Rodriguez is seeing this in his organization. The percentage of his staff being assaulted may shock you. We discuss what the Chief is doing to about this growing problem. We also discuss his career, leadership, and the Austin-Travis County EMS System. 

Episode 192 is Tammie Bullard. Tammie is a Paramedic in Perth, Western Australia. Tammie is also the author of the book "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (GBU) Paramedic". Her passion for paramedicine is getting people talking about the guts of their role. Not talking up the impressive things they’ve done, not talking over and over about the things that frustrate them, but talking openly and honestly about what their best needs to look like and what they need in order to get there. Without professing to know the answers, her scribbled notes, collected over several years and resulting from countless conversations with hundreds of paramedics, have been gathered together in the shape of The GBU Approach and this book.  We talk about the book, her entrance into EMS, EMS in Austalia, and her academic journey to become a Paramedic.

Episode 191 is Jonathan Studnek. Jonathan is currently the Deputy Director of Operations for the Mecklenburg EMS Agency. In this position, he is responsible for leading the deployment and utilization of over 350 EMTs and paramedics as well as over 40 tele-communicators. Jonathan is responsible for planning, developing, implementing, and overseeing a comprehensive strategy for performance improvement, clinical education, and human resources within the Agency. Our discussion includes his new role as Deputy Director, the challenges of leading a large organization, MEDIC (Mecklenburgh EMS), EMS degrees, research, and his stint at the National Registry.  Note: Mecklenburg EMS Agency (Medic) has served as Mecklenburg County’s EMS agency since 1978. Medic is the busiest EMS Agency in the State of North Carolina, with over 600 employees and a fleet of 109 agency vehicles. Medic personnel processed 155,526 calls (an average of 426 per day) resulting in 117,321 transports.

Episode 190 is Dan Cohen. Dan has been with Williamson County EMS for 14 years. He produces distributive education and manages media. His EMS journey began like many of his generation, watching "Emergency". Dan takes an unusual path into EMS as becoming a photojournalist first for Time, Forbes, and BusinessWeek. Dan is blending videography and Paramedicine to tell the story of EMS in Central Texas. Dan and I discuss his path into EMS, Williamson County EMS, and the interesting article he wrote about "Silos" and the impact they have both personally and in EMS. 

As the podcast moves towards the 200th episode, I thought it would be worth the trip back to episode 157. In this episode, my wife takes over the podcast. We talk about my career, the podcast beginnings, and I answer questions submitted by my guests and listeners.

Episode 189 is Drew Anderson. Drew and I met at EMSPRO19 and I heard his presentation and asked Drew to be a guest. Our discussion involves EMS providers health which includes just not mental health, but our physical well-being. We touch on suicide within public safety and prevention. Drew also discusses body mechanics, bringing more help to a call to assist, posture and how we approach a patient with our eyes. Drew is a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Albany-SUNY. He is also an EMT with Delmar-Bethlehem EMS as a Lieutenant.

Episode 188 is Catherine Counts. Catherine discusses her role with Seattle Medic 1, research, and why she is involved with EMS. We also discuss what EMS should be doing to improve EMS research. Catherine interests include health care policy, quality improvement, and of course EMS. Catherine received her PhD and MHA from Tulane.

Episode 187 is AJ Heightman and Mike McEvoy. AJ and Mike talk about journalism in EMS, the new approach for JEMS, EMS in general and lots more. AJ is joining the podcast for the 3rd time and talks about his new exciting role with JEMS. Mike is the Executive Editor for JEMS and discusses his new role and his path to JEMS. Mike is the EMS Coordinator for Saratoga County, NY and a nurse clinician in the cardiovascular ICU at Albany Medical Center in NY. Mike is also the chair of the International Fire Chiefs EMS Section. AJ Heightman was recently appointed Editor Emeritus of JEMS. For 25 years, AJ served in various capacities for JEMS, most notably as Editor-in-Chief of JEMS.

Episode 186 is Richard Gasaway. Richard talks to us about the importance of situational awareness in EMS. Our discussion takes a look at the science behind situational awareness and what influence a dispatch to an incident may influence in our thinking. Richard will take us through the process and provide a few tips on how to be better prepared. Richard is widely considered a trusted authority on human factors, situational awareness and the high-risk decision-making processes used in high-stress, high consequence work environments. He served 33 years on the front lines as a firefighter, EMT-Paramedic, company officer, training officer, fire chief, and emergency incident commander. His doctoral research included the study of cognitive neuroscience to understand how human factors flaw situational awareness and impact high-risk decision making.

Episode 185 is Nancy Magee. Nancy has been active in volunteer EMS for 20 years. Is there a volunteer crisis in EMS? You will be intrigued by our discussion on this topic. We also talk about the keys to recruiting and retaining volunteers in EMS. Nancy's career path into in EMS is unique and experience in her previous ventures provides building blocks for her EMS career. As a self-employed business owner and consultant for 25 years and as an EMT, AEMT, instructor, field supervisor and Director of Marketing and Client Relations for an EMS Management Service Organization. Her workshop series, “Redesigning Volunteer EMS-A Volunteer Survival Guide,” found on EMS1.com is educational and provides much needed advice in the volunteer world. This series will turn into a podcast starting next month with Nancy and Amy Eisenhauer hosting.

Episode 184 is Ron Romano. Ron is the Chief of the City of Pittsburgh Emergency Medical Services. Ron started in EMS as EMT in 1975 with Perman Ambulance Service becoming a Paramedic in 1977. In 1978 is when he was hired by the City of Pittsburgh. Ron tells us what job he applied for initially and a simple question by Director Cannon changed his life. We discuss his career, leadership, Pittsburgh EMS, and briefly on the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting.