A guy took his kid’s bike and went for a ride. He lost control in front of my sister’s house and hit a pole so hard that he was thrown back twenty feet, his son’s motorcycle travelled without him a hundred feet forward and then collapsed. He was killed instantly. His covered body lay in […]

I work on an ambulance where lives are lost every day; some peacefully, some through purposeful acts of violence and some from simple bad luck. Here are a few things I’ve learned by being present at the end. 1. The finality of sudden death is overwhelming-but not forever. First, there is no hope, no miracles […]

Graduation Party season is underway. Gets me thinking. I wonder… Does he remember his friend being dragged from his side, hysterical, and a firefighter taking his place? Does he remember the collar going around his neck? His arms being held down? His legs tied to the board? A 16 Guage IV inserted into his arm? […]

  One million one-hundred thousand American soldiers have been killed in the line of duty since The United States of America began.   I am a fireman, not a soldier. My job has its share of risks, but nobody is trying to kill me. Most of the time, anyway. People try to kill soldiers, and […]

  Amendment to Proclamation: The King’s Council (aka The Old Men Who Know) have advised the King that Man Caves that exist in tandem with Garages and Basements should be permissible in The Kingdom of Morse. The King, being a kind and gregarious King contemplated the advice of his council and agreed.   Proclamation From […]

This year’s EMS Week theme is, EMS: Dedicated. For Life. Now we could interpret the theme a few different ways. 1. Dedicated for the life-or more accurately the lives that we save, heal, improve of somehow effect during the performance of our duty, or… 2. Dedicated to performing the aforementioned duties for as long as […]

http://www.emsworld.com/article/11458305/ems-emt-paramedic-real-life-stories …Benjamin survived the war. Sadly his brother did not. He told me about him: “He was a gifted musician and brilliant Brown grad whose life was cut short in the Black Forest during the Battle of the Bulge,” he explained as we traveled the bumpy streets toward the VA. I thought of my own […]

Toward the end of my days as a firefighter/EMT in Providence, RI things had turned pretty grim. Bitterness had crept into my psyche, anger and resentment too. How could the job I loved have turned against me, I wondered, every day worse than the one before it. The administration was clueless, the union indifferent and […]

When I started working in Providence, RI shootings happened, but when they did it was a little out of the ordinary; maybe one or two a week. As time progressed the shootings became as common as the cold, and the crews responding became very good at plugging the holes, and keeping the victims alive. It’s […]