A car skidded into hers, tapping her bumper. She drove home, sat in her driveway and then called 9-1-1. She gave us the license plate number of the car that hit her, and then said the pain in her neck and back was too much to bear and she couldn't walk. We brought the stretcher over to her, […]

    Thoughts and prayers to all from the Toledo Fire/Rescue department following the loss of Firefighter Stephen Machcinski, 42 and Firefighter James Dickman, 31. According to reports the two were lost while battling a fire in a six unit apartment building that had been built in 1877. Stephen had 15 years experience, James was […]

  It doesn't matter who you were, it's who you are that counts. He told me I was a "burnout" when he recognized me from all of those years ago; a term we used to use to describe kids like me, the sweet aroma of marijuana smoke seemingly permanently atattched to our skin, Visine in […]

    Behind the Patient: Street Portraits by Michael Morse   Whose patient is this, anyway? Dealing with a disrespectful doctor made for an awkward situation on a recent medical call   By Michael Morse She appeared from the confines of her sanctuary, white robe billowing behind her as she strode toward me, and with […]

I’m glad I wrote the books Rescuing Providence and Responding. I never would have dreamed it possible while I was doing it, but I’ve already begun to forget most of what I did. Especially fuzzy are the emotions that accompany each and every call. Thanks for reading this blog, it has been going since 2006, […]

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrOYmj3s57Q   "For he today that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition; And gentlemen in England now abed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,"     There's something about that passage from William Shakespear's Henry V Act […]

      http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/fire_life/articles/2014/january/help-from-the-house.html "You get what you put in…and people get what they deserve." Kid Rock, on Only God Knows Why. Never let anybody tell you that in Providence firefighters aren't much help on EMS calls. I carried when I could, and when I couldn't was surrounded by people who would. Thanks to all […]

Sometimes having 160 years of tradition unchanged by progress works. The members of the 50th Providence Fire Department Training Acadamy endured the same training from the same kind of training officers that I did 1n 1991, and every Providence Firefighter has since 1854. Sure, some things have changed, EMS being a big one, and I […]

I wrote this for the medics and EMT's out there who find themselves in a rut. Trust me, it's not all for nothing…   There comes a time when you have already done more than you are going to do, and when that time comes for you, I hope that you can look back and […]

I have a tendancy to be a little flippant when I write about EMS, the dreary side of the job is far more easy to write about than the bigger picture. But it is the bigger picture that has kept me interested, and dare I say passionate about my chosen vocation. That passion comes through […]