In 1993, I spent six weeks reading Dr. Seuss books to an ESL (English as a Second Language) kindergarten class in one of the toughest schools in the city. It was a program designed to get police and firefighters into the city schools to be role models. We were supposed to follow a set course, […]

It’s different to respond to a critical incident with something to do that directly effects the outcome. Reporting on what happens over and over eventually takes its toll on the emotional well-being of the people doing the reporting. The News is a tough business, but the people in the business are just people, like everybody […]

This is going to be difficult to write, and no doubt hard to read, but every now and then a little tightrope walk does me good. Please stay with me, if I fall into the canyon I have nobody to blame but myself. A firefighter from a neighboring city lost his hand last month due […]

Gang member threatens to kill Jersey City Police and EMT’s. Read the story here: http://www.ems1.com/ems/articles/1946682-Gang-threatens-to-kill-Jersey-City-police-EMTs/ Social media was all a-twitter yesterday when this “story” broke. Seems we love nothing more that a good old fashioned threat. Please keep in mind that this was an isolated incident, gang members are not that bright, a threat was […]

One day I was tending bar in a nice restaurant, the next I was a firefigher/EMT in a big city. It’s weird the way things work out, it took me a long time to get hired in Providence, RI, and during the 6 month academy bills kept coming in, and the kids didn’t just go […]

Welcome back eveybody, it’s time for another installment of everybody’s favorite game, “Who is the Bigger Asshole!?” Today we have a two part scenario, so without furthur ado, let’s see “who is the bigger asshole!” Beautiful summer day, moderate traffic on a city road, four lanes, two lanes north, two lanes south. Driver A. is […]

As you may remember, back in 2006 I started this blog in anticipation of the release of the book, Rescuing Providence. Yesterday, the blog passed 1,000,000 visits, or “hits.” That’s a lot of hits if I do say so myself! Time moves on, and things change, if they didn’t not much of anything would get […]

I would often sit in the back of the ambulance when a job was done and simply let things settle. Tension takes time to leave a space where a life and death struggle has happened, and the confined space of an ALS vehicle doesn’t have a lot of room for the air to clear.   […]