“When I began my EMS career, one of the most dreadful stories I heard was of a father who ran to his child after the child had been hit by a car. He gathered the sobbing boy in his arms to provide comfort, and instead, finished the job on the boy's spinal cord, killing him. Thankfully, decades later, some things have changed…”

“To function effectively as an EMS provider, you need three things: a willing heart, a knowledgeable mind and a body that can handle hard, physical labor. Your willing heart helped get you into EMS. Your mind helped get you through school and continues to assist you on each call. But is your body ready and able to handle the constant wear and tear you experience on a daily basis?”

“Using street smarts goes beyond dealing with nasty people, messy situations or chaotic scenes. Indeed, one subtle goal of any comprehensive safety program is to wage "germ warfare" on the many microscopic threats that arise in our hazardous line of work.”

“Good scene control is an aspect of prehospital care that is difficult to describe in words. When a scene is well-controlled, things get done seemingly by magic. It is far easier to detect poor scene control, because nothing seems to go right.”

“Did your mom ever claim to have eyes in the back of her head? I kept my child stumped with that one for years. She was perpetually confounded I could seemingly have my attention elsewhere, yet always catch her when she was up to some mischief or danger.”