Magical Destinations By Steve Podcast

One of the most difficult topics this podcast has discussed. The suicide problem that is occurring within the EMS profession. This week's I talk with the founder of the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance (FBHA) Jeff Dill. FBHA is dedicated to educating EMS, Police and Fire on suicide awareness. It is the only known organization that collects and validates data on FF/EMT suicides across the Unites States. Jeff besides being a retired Fire Captain holds a MS in Counseling. Suicide of Public Safety Providers, especially in EMS unfortunately is in the news on a regular basis. Just this week EMS1.com ran another article on the subject. We discuss how the organization got its start. We talk about suicide in EMS, what are some of the signs we should be looking for and how important that we educate our public safety family.

Episode 60: Wendell Hissrich is the Public Safety Director for the City of Pittsburgh. Wendell's experience includes EMS, Fire and Law Enforcement. His career path includes the City of Pittsburgh Bureau of EMS and many years in the FBI. While in the FBI, Wendell was involved with strategic management of the FBI's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) program for field coordination in the 56 field divisions with a focus on WMD operational response and investigations, both domestically and internationally. We talk about how the FBI integrated EMTs and Paramedics into the agency. We discuss the challenges he faces as the Director and our connection to Medic 5.

Rick SyWassink is an experienced individual with over 30 years experience in death investigation, forensic science, and autopsy protocol. As well as 15 years of adjunct and full time teaching experience at the college level. We discuss crime scene management by EMS, we touch on the violence that is occurring within the EMS community and he takes us through a murder case that took years to solve.

Episode 58: Dr. Bill Atkinson was one of the first paramedic students in North Carolina. Bill has held several leadership roles in and out of EMS. He has held numerous President and CEO positions in healthcare, with his last being at WakeMed Health Hospitals in Raleigh, NC. Bill sits on the NC EMS Advisory Council and is an active consultant. We talk about his early days in EMS and how he chose to move toward hospital leadership rather than EMS, though EMS was never far from his reach. We also discuss his unique leadership style and why he is a strong EMS advocate.

Deborah Stein has 24 plus years in EMS and currently is an Instructor at the University North Carolina teaching the AHA programs. Before joining UNC, Deborah was a member of my officer corps at Cary Area EMS. She was a Shift Supervisor, headed up our Training Department and was a Division Chief. We discuss those beginning days of my tenure, which you will find very interesting. We talk about Cary Area EMS, her beginnings in EMS and the changes at Cary Area EMS.

Mic Gunderson has over 40 years of experience in EMS, leadership and clinical roles. Listen how he goes from a film and photography interest as a career, to the military to EMS. It is a great story. He is currently the Director of Clinical Systems in the Quality and Health Technology Division of the American Heart Association. Mic has authored numerous journal articles. Mic and I meet way back when I was working in Philadelphia, which we touch on during our conversation. See how many people in our careers that we have in common that have influenced our careers.

William Sukitch is a Paramedic with over 24 years of experience in EMS. His path to EMS started while in college. We talk about his early days in EMS and what drove him to join the Navy. In the Navy, Bill was a combat medic. Bill talks openly about about those times and the affect his career in the military had on him. The PTSD that he experiences and how he handles it hopefully will help others. Bill met his wife at Medical Rescue Team South Authority (I had a small part in this), and is a full time Paramedic at Medical Rescue Team Authority.

Mike Kobneck is President of Novum Concepts Ltd. Mike has developed an APP called BioPhone that capture images and securely send them to a base client such as an Emergency Room from the field. Before the business side struck Mike, he was a paramedic with Denver Health and AMR. We talk about why he developed and how BioPhone works as well as what led him to leave the field to create the APP? His focus is to improve the quality of systems and tools used by paramedics.

Harold Cohen before retiring from Baltimore County Fire had 35 years of experience with the County and 22 years as Division Chief for EMS. Harold since retiring from the Baltimore County, continues his ability to educate and train new leaders in EMS as a college professor and educator at the National Fire Academy. When he is not teaching he is a Senior Project Manager for SPC/TriData. Harold discusses his early interest and start in the public safety arena. We have a great discussion about leadership and what leaders of EMS should be thinking about today. Harold and I talk about the mentor he was (and still is) to me early in my career and what it meant.

Michael Touchstone is the Regional Director of the Philadelphia Regional Office of EMS, a Fire Paramedic Services Chief in the Philadelphia Fire Department (PFD) and the President of the National EMS Management Association. Mike was one of the first Paramedics in the PFD that was not a firefighter first. We will discuss how that came about and what that was like. We talk about his cooking and it's role during those early days in the fire station. Mike is passionate about education for EMS providers and leaders. If you are brand new supervisor you want to hear MIke's advice on what you need to know. Mike is a frequent speaker at local and national conferences on leadership and management.

Michael Gannon began his EMS career in 1979 as a volunteer at Medical Rescue Team South Authority (MRTSA). In 1981 was hired as a full time Paramedic. Today he is the EMS Program Coordinator at Allegheny General Hospital. Mike is an award winning educator, a patient's and Paramedic best friend with his skills and knowledge. During our conversation learn how I played minor role in Mike's move from MRTSA to his current position. Mike also talks about his first call at MRTSA that you will want to hear.

Dr. Bryan Bledsoe is an emergency physician, researcher and EMS author. He is Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Nevada School of Medicine in Las Vegas. He is the author of numerous EMS textbooks and has over 1 millionbooks in print. We talk about what is like to be an ER physician in Las Vegas and a few interesting cases he has seen. We discuss the state of EMS today and his view of Community Paramedicine.

Baxter Larmon is a Professor of Medicine at UCLA School of Medicine and the Director of UCLA's Center for Prehospital Care. After 35 years at UCLA, Baxter is retiring on July 1. Baxter has long history of EMS service and loves research and education. We talk about his astonishing career, some of his mentors and what he will be doing after he retires.

Episode 48: Daniel (Danny) Cline is my guest and his EMS career began as an EMT in 1988. Danny has been a provider, educator, trainer and chief. You name a position in EMS, Danny has done it. He is respected among his peers as a medic, educator, chief and hockey player. We discuss his path from the north to the south. He tells a story that he said he has never told anyone. Listen how he came to Cary Area EMS and find out why he is so focus on learning everything he can. Danny is currently a Critical Care Paramedic at Rex/UNC Healthcare.

Episode 47: What would it be like to be put in charge of an EMS department of a major city at the ripe age of 24? My guest Jay Fitch had this honor, listen how this came about and the challenges he faced. Jay is the Founding Partner and President of Fitch and Associates and host of the Pinnacle EMS Leadership and Management Conference held in July. Jay is internationally recognized for leadership as a consultant, educator and innovator in the fields of EMS and public safety. We talk about his start in EMS, his journey to being one of the first paramedics trained in the USA, his leadership style and his mentors.