Combo Medic

( www.amazon.com ) Tonight I began reading the Tony Dungy book "The Mentor Leader".  Everybody that has small knowledge of the NFL knows about Tony Dungy and his reputation and I can only wish that I was part of the Colts organization to be a fly on the wall to hear just a few words of his leadership style.  While I am still just in the beginning of this book I have already started to look at things slightly different than I did before.  So I started to look in my history and see who my mentors have been, or who they might currently be.  I looked at why I chose them, or why I considered them my mentors and I can really see that I jumped right into those because of their ability to get me where I want to be.  In the beginning of the book Coach Dungy states that most people look to get their leadership skills from those that have awesome bank accounts or tremendous winning percentages, but never for the way a leader is viewed, for what they really do....

This past week Apple released its latest version of the iPhone.  Pictures of Apples tires across the world bowed the Apple trend continues as people vie for the front spot and will wait in lines that wrap around city blocks just to update to the latest and greatest Apple device.  With the shear numbers in those lines I can safely say that there was at least one first responder (EMT, Paramedic, Firefighter, Police Officer) in those crowds, and I would venture to guess that there was an average of 1 in every line across the world. In addition to the release of the iPhone 5s and the newest iPhone 5c, Apple released the latest iOS known as iOS 7.  I will admit, I was quick to pull the trigger and updated both my iPhone and iPad to this iOS.  Really, who wouldn't want the newest if they weren't in the position to purchase a new device.  But are we as quick to upgrade our career field education as we are with updating the technology we use to keep in touch with...

If you didn't know, I have been working on a project with Greg Friese, Rob Theriault, and Bill Toon who are the co-hosts of the EMS Educast (www.emseducast.com).  This project is known as the EMS Educast Mini Edition.  We have put together 4 episodes so far to go along with their regular EMS Educast, and we find topics of interest that will help the EMS Education community.  As these episodes  continue to post, I am going to put a little more information here about how the topic was developed. In the latest edition that posted this morning (15 Mar 2013), I discuss relate sports with EMS education. Now, I was once a professional basketball fan and loved to watch Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bull as they went for the 6 National Championships.  It was a sight to see, a cohesive team operation that while it focused on a superstar, each member would step up and show what needed to be done in those last clutch minutes.  BJ Armstrong, a young talented athlete ...

Yesterday, I was privileged to have an opportunity to speak with rising Freshmen students from two neighboring counties.  These students were learning about a "Day in the life of a College Student" and were presented with the arts, sciences, and our tremendous Paramedic Program.  During this opportunity, one of the students asked a question regarding the highest authorized speed an ambulance can drive.  Now, I understand the basis behind his question, but it made me think while I answered.  Now, I have driven fire trucks, ambulances, and support vehicles through vast amount of roadways in both perfect conditions and not-so-perfect conditions.  I have driven them quickly, and no-so-quickly, and luckily I was never involved in an accident.  Now over the years, I quickly became more mature when driving and truly embodied the principles noted below in the Tennessee Codes Annotated. With due regard for safety...what does that mean.  Driving an emergenc...