A Dinosaur sends greetings!

[firetender]

Aloha from Maui!

I've been out of the field since the mid-1980's. I started in a hearse in 1973, graduated a FL pilot paramedic program in 1976, worked Santa Barbara County EMS until, coincidentally, not too long after I helped usher in the California Paramedics Association, the first AFL-CIO affiliation with a professional EMS organization. I burned out on the politics, not the work.

My experience in EMS thrust me into a lifelong exploration of the healing arts. It has been the foundation of a career including Alternative Medicine, Human Potential Movement, Counseling, living/working with a Native American medicine family and 30 years in performance arts, once the medicine of the common people.

Throughout, I have been a writer and rabble-rouser and often ask too many questions. But, in 2005, I went back to my roots and got involved in an on-line forum for medics. I (and even some others!) have found my experience before, during and after my stint in EMS has application today.

So I've been lending a hand where I can and in the process learning and thinking more about what it is EMT's/paramedics REALLY do. Based on those five years of exploration I fine-tuned and then published a book I've been crafting for about 15 years! I'll say more later, but for now I just wanted you to know I'll be lurking for a bit until I get a feel for how I might contribute to this particular site.

[akflightmedic]

Welcome FT! Glad you "found" this place...you will fit in nicely based on your past experience.

[Richard B the EMT]

Glad to know there's still a few long timers like us, who were in the caddylances, and still around.