Fire Chief, Paramedic, and EMS Educator Mitchell Waite, PhD discusses his books The EMS Leadership Challenge ,  Fire Service Leadership theories and Practice, and a 400 Days a Call to Duty on this episode of the Medical Author Chat.

Chief Waite leads the Wisconsin Rapids Fire Department. He has been in the fire service for 25 years and even longer in EMS. His career in leadership began by enlisting in the US Marine Corps 35 years ago. We start the conversation by talking about Mitch’s recent deployment to Iraq and his work as a Liaison Officer to General Ray Ordierno.

400 Days a Call to Duty

The first book we discussed is scheduled for early May 2010. In 400 Days a Call to Duty Mitch explained that his intent is to write about the difficulties citizen soldiers face leaving family and jobs for overseas deployments. He explained part of his goal is to “Share good news stories to enrich and educate.”

400 Days is based on journal entries Mitch wrote daily during his deployment. It was “therapeutic” to write every day. Proceeds from the book will be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project.

The EMS Leadership Challenge

Next we discussed the EMS Leadership Challenge – a book meant for anyone in EMS. Our conversation included the importance of research for EMS, the lack of leadership in EMS, the disconnect between leadership and expertise.

Mitch and I also talked about the usefulness of this book as a textbook and a course he is developing on EMS Leadership for Mid State Technical College paramedic students.

Advice and Connect

We conclude the podcast with Mitch’s advice for aspiring authors. Make sure to listen and heed his encouragement to “share information to benefit others.” Connect with Mitch on Facebook or email Mitch Waite

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1. Declarations of a Dinosaur: Medical Author Chat with Lucy Hornstein MD
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3. Stories from the E.R. Loading Dock – A medical author chat with Eric Liddy Sr.

Paramedic and author Tom Notestine discusses his book Paramedic to the Prince in this episode of the Medical Author Chat podcast.

Tom talked to me by Skype from his home in Qatar. There is a short delay between my questions and his responses and some distortion in the call due to our connection. Nonetheless, this episode is well worth a listen.

From California to Saudi Arabia

After six years as a paramedic in Los Angeles Tom wanted a change. Shortly after the first Gulf war he began working as a paramedic at a military hospital in Saudi Arabia near Riyadh. That experience led him to be a member of the private medical team for then crown-prince Abdullah who is now the King of Saudi Arabia. The medical team, always within two minutes of the prince was two medics and three physicians. In our conversation Tom explains his global travels as part of the medical team on the Prince’s private 747 and 300 foot yacht.

Working in the Middle East

When Tom went to work in the Middle East he was not able to find much information about the culture, healthcare, and what to expect living there. He explains that the book is a combination of his EMS experiences, he experiences learning and living in a unique culture and his advice for EMS professionals that are considering work in the Middle East.

Tom also discusses how the perception of Americans has changed during his 20 years living and working in the Middle East. One of the themes of the book is the “changing relationship between Saudi Arabia and America as well as the rise of terrorism.”

Advice for Authors and EMS Professionals

Tom specifically encourages aspiring authors to keep a journal about their experiences. He explains, “everyone has a story to tell.” Tom answers every email he receives about working in the Middle East as a paramedic and has a section of his website devoted to the topic – ParamedictothePrince.com.

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EMT and romance novelist, Jaxine Daniels, discusses her series of novels featuring paramedics and rescue jumpers in this issue of the Medical Author Chat. Jaxine is the author of two books (Black Ice and Thin Ice) that feature a paramedic that works for a fictional hockey team. The other series of five books revolves around the “danger, excitement, and love lives of an Air Force Para-Rescue Team.”

Jaxine and I discuss her work as an EMT in the high mountains of Colorado that has also involved work in search and rescue and how that has inspired her as  a writer. She also tells about how her own experience of being a patient had a big impact on her patient care.

We also dig into the Romance Novel genre. I now know that a romance novel needs to focus on romance and end in a committed relationship. Jaxine shares that writing is a touch business. “Don’t go here if you can’t take rejection,” she warns. We also discuss the importance of character development and her process to plan the characters and general plots before she started writing.

Books by Jaxine Daniels are available from Amazon.com and her website JaxineDaniels.com.

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Paramedic and author, Laura J. Kendall, discusses her two books, A Simple Case of Suicide and Double Winkers Club on this episode of the Medical Author Chat. Laura is an active paramedic in New Jersey. Her EMS career began as a volunteer in 1981. She has since worked in rural and inner city areas and been an EMS educator.

We discuss her journey to become a novelist. She started A Simple Case of Suicide in 1996, but didn’t finish it until 2006. When asked why she chose a paramedic for the heroine she tells me there “aren’t any books out there that feature paramedics as the heroine.”

Based on her field experiences and answering the notorious “what-if” Laura described her process of developing a murder mystery novel. She also discusses her writing process – which I was shocked when I learned her old school writing method.

We also discuss Laura’s second novel, the Double Winkers Club, a paranormal romance novel. Her second book was published in 2009. This novel also features paramedics and police officers.

Writing both books has given Laura more pride in being a paramedic. She believes we are really good people and that we do a great job that deserves recognition.

We finish the conversation with Laura’s advice for aspiring writers. Her most important advice was to “go with your heart and believe in yourself. Write the full story and then use an editor to make it polished.”

Connect with Laura at ThreeGreyhoundsPublishing.com or email Laura

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The Streets Ran Red by Morgan Lawrence is a book that “puts you in the driver’s seat” of the real life of being a paramedic that is based on the authors twenty years as a paramedic, physician’s assistant, and traumatologist. The book is based on Morgan’s “real events and real cases”.

Morgan became a paramedic after serving as an aviator in the Vietnam War. After the war he attended a sheriff department meeting, mostly for the coffee and donuts, and left signed up for one of the first paramedic classes in Texas. After twenty years in the field a new reporter (now the most famous woman in the world) suggested he write a book. He began writing the book after a severe injury took him off the job. The book was not published until 2008.

Like other episodes of the Medical Author Chat I asked Morgan for his advice to aspiring authors. He suggested lots of notes and selecting a view-point. The Streets Ran Red is available from The Streets Ran Red(Amazon.com link) and Morgan’s website. If you order from his website he will autograph the book for you. Morgan is also available for book signings and public speaking. He currently works and speaks in the field of Forensic Psychology and Forensic Traumatology.

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Unprepared is a cautionary fictional tale from Jim Rush, a long-term emergency planner for healthcare organizations. Jim and his co-author, D.A. Ramsey, have written an account of how several simultaneous incidents devastated a few American cities and overwhelm local, regional, and national capacities to provide healthcare, other community services, and governance.

Jim drew on his work experience in the US Air Force, US Surgeon General’s Office, HRSA, CDC, and private sector to highlight the poor planning that is currently in place to rapidly mass evacuate sick and injured patients from disaster scenes. Jim and I discussed the minimal progress that has taken place since Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Ike.

In our interview Jim discusses his hope that the book, by exploring the ongoing impacts of national tragedy, inspires planners and policy makers to create serious plans. He told me, “I have a major concern that the health system is not learning lessons to evacuate patients and save as many lives as possible during a major disaster.”

We also discussed that a short fall of many training exercises is a focus on quick and tidy happy endings. In reality, incidents usually draw out for weeks, months, and even years. According to Jim the “difference between a disaster and a catastrophe is often the capacity of emergency managers to request help with patient evacuation and dispersal.”

Unprepared is meant to be a provocative book that will get people thinking. Do you think a fiction cautionary tale can stimulate planning? Have other fictional media, like the movie “The Day After”, impacted you as an emergency responder to take action?

Unprepared is available from Amazon.com and JVR Health Readiness. Links discussed in this episode of the medical author chat:

• DebbieRamsey.com
• JVR Health Readiness Inc.
• Email Jim Rush

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1. Book Review: Unprepared by D.A. Ramsey and Jim Rush
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The E.R. Loading Dock: real EMS Stories from Around the World

1. National EMS Memorial Service
2. American Cancer Society
3. Multiple Sclerosis National Research Institute
4. Shriners Hospital for Children
5. Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

Eric also read one of his stories that is in the book about the event that inspired him to become an emergency responder. He concluded by sharing some of the lessons he has learned in this process. Connect with Eric through the Stories from the ER Loading Dock Facebook Fan Page.

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Army Reserve Specialist Michael Anthony discusses his book, Mass Casualties: A Young Medic’s True Story of Death, Deception, and Dishonor in Iraq on this episode of the Medical Author Chat podcast. Michael was an operating room technician in the Iraq War. His tour was from October 2006 to October 2007. During that time he worked in two hospitals. First in Mosul and then in the Al Anbar Province. He kept a journal throughout his tour that became the basis of his book.

During our interview Michael explains why he wrote a book about what life was really like for him and many of the soldiers in his unit. Michael had preconceived conceptions about war based on the experiences of four older brothers that were in the military and watching lots of war movies. He was surprised to find out that many of those preconceptions were wrong and he was serving with “regular people” that were like him.

Michael and I also talked about the struggles many veterans have returning to life at home and work. Michael describes that every day eighteen veterans in the United States commit suicide and one in three homeless Americans are veterans. Michael came home from Iraq with his own emotional problems and addictions. He explains that what helped him “was having something to focus on” which was writing the book. He also discussed the importance of vets being able to talk to other vets and participate in veteran run treatment programs.

Websites we discussed:
Michael’s website – masscasualties.com
Mass.gov – Veterans Services

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Author and former paramedic and EMS Educator Kate Dernocoeur is the guest on this episode of the Medical Author Chat. Kate wrote the classic EMS textbook “Streetsense: Communication, Safety, and Control“. Kate was a paramedic on “the ground floor of the industry.” When her career began medics were trained by doctors and nurses who focused on the medical training paramedics needed. Because the prehospital environment was unknown to those educators an entire body of knowledge was missing from EMS Education – Street Sense. Kate wrote about things like:

1. communicating with people in distress
2. safety in homes
3. working with crowds
4. recognizing and recovering from stress

The first edition of “Street Sense” was published in 1986. The third edition was published in the mid 1990s. With each edition Kate incorporated content that reflected societal changes. Now much of what we consider “street sense” is a regular feature of EMS textbooks and education programs because medics have been in the field for 45 years.

Kate was a frequent EMS conference speaker and writer for the industry trade magazines. She and I talked about her career. We also discussed what she would add if she wrote a new edition of “Street Sense”. Her comments on this were very insightful and shows me that she still has her finger on the pulse of EMS. This part of the conversation led Kate to telling me about a presentation she saw by Kimberly Dozier and the concept of “Post Traumatic Growth.”

Kate finished the episode with some wise words for aspiring authors including:

1. Know the tools and mechanics of writing

2. Everyone has a good story to tell

3. Develop your reputation as a writer

4. When you have an idea you believe in – Go For It!

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Firefighter/paramedic, blogger, and educator Steve Whitehead discusses his new (and free) ebook – The Non-Conformist’s Guide to EMS Success on this episode of the Medical Author Chat.

Steve and I discuss his start in blogging, what the ebook is about, how blogging has impacted his patient care, and Steve’s goals for the book. We also talk about what we like in an EMS blog. The EMT Spot seeks to inspire, encourage, and educate readers. Steve shares that blogging has changed him and makes him feel like he needs to perform at an even higher standard.

During our conversation Steve explains his idea and inspiration to write an e-book. Then he discusses the task of converting the idea into an ebook that is more than 60,000 words. Note: we recorded this conversation just a few days after the late January release.

One of the concepts of the book is having a “B-HAG.” I got Steve to share his B-HAG and I can tell you he is well on his way to having the impact that he aspires to have.

Visit theEMTSpot.com and register for your own copy of The Non-Conformist’s Guide to EMS. It is well worth it.

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