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I just took a wild ride through the streets of Atlanta with EMTs and medics. Author Kevin Hazzard spent a decade offering medical to an array of people with a myriad of problems. His method of storytelling requires no hyperbole. He just quietly relates his experience in remarkable detail. We meet people suffering strokes, heart attacks, knife attacks, car accidents, and drug overdoses. Hazzard often assisted people living on the fringe of society--people in housing projects, homeless shelters, and squatters in abandoned buildings. He also describes his fellow EMTs and medics and shares a little bit of the sometimes uneasy relationships among various first responders--police officers, fire fighters, and medics/EMTs.
Over the course of 24 hours, I made time to read his book in its entirety.
But Hazzard does more than just replay suspenseful and horrifying calls. He also stands back and offers analysis about the profession in general and his own complex relationship to the cast of characters and the work.
EMTs and medics have to deal a variety of calls, but often these are life-and-death situations that involve people who are chaotic, emotional and not in a rational state of mind. Other people on the scene often complicate the delivery of life-saving services. And the EMTs and medics themselves have various degrees of skill and investment.
The book had so many jaw-dropping moments, I'm even more so hoping that I never have to call 911 and request emergency medical treatment. But if I do, heaven help me and heaven help the exhausted, constantly challenged people who drive up in the ambulance.
Over the course of 24 hours, I made time to read his book in its entirety.
But Hazzard does more than just replay suspenseful and horrifying calls. He also stands back and offers analysis about the profession in general and his own complex relationship to the cast of characters and the work.
EMTs and medics have to deal a variety of calls, but often these are life-and-death situations that involve people who are chaotic, emotional and not in a rational state of mind. Other people on the scene often complicate the delivery of life-saving services. And the EMTs and medics themselves have various degrees of skill and investment.
The book had so many jaw-dropping moments, I'm even more so hoping that I never have to call 911 and request emergency medical treatment. But if I do, heaven help me and heaven help the exhausted, constantly challenged people who drive up in the ambulance.