Featuring the Firefighter Cancer Support Network

The December 13 Kitchen Table Chat is about cancer.

As you may or may not know, Dr. Burt Clark underwent prostate cancer surgery earlier this month. He and his wife, Carolyn will be discussing cancer and the fire service with the founder and president of the Firefighter Cancer Support Networks, Mr. Mike Dubron tonight at 9pm ET.

Burt, with the help and support of Carolyn, is recovering from a Radical Retropubic Prostatectomy surgery for prostate cancer that he had on Dec 1.

Mike Dubron, President / Founder of the Firefighter Cancer Support Network explains the organization. If cancer has visited your family, stop by Kitchen Table Chat and share your knowledge, experience, or support.

The Netcast live show is open to all listeners to call in and chat with the commentators and you can participate in the live forum feed that is part of every netcast.  Can't make it during the live presentation?  All shows are archived and can be heard at a time of your convenience.

CLICK HERE to log onto tonight's Kitchen Table Chat and join in.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

The Problem is Strictly Financial

THE FIRE SCIENCE ACADEMY AT THE University of Nevada, Reno will probably be shut down by the end of the year and sold to the Nevada National Guard.  The modern facility is widely used by firefighters from all over the world and also contributes to the Elko County economy.  But the school has an unsustainable debt that continues to increase with no foreseeable turnaround.  There is a $24 million bond indebtedness and a $12 million operating deficit.  The closure will cause the layoff of 28 people, as well.

Fire Science Academy photo

The Elko Daily Free Press reports:

"It is my decision to go to the Board of Regents to propose the closure. The actual decision will be with the Board of Regents,"UNR President Marc Johnson said Monday. "The reason is completely financial," he said.

The university plans to recommend the closure to the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents at their meeting Dec. 1-2 in Las Vegas, according to UNR’s announcement Monday.

Elko County, the City of Elko and the Elko Convention and Visitors Authority all contributed $25,000 a year under a sustainability effort to keep the doors open, and Carlin provided a break on water rates. Academy clients also contributed.

Johnson said the contributions from the cities and county were supposed to be a stopgap measure for three years while the academy sought funds elsewhere for long-term financial support, but that didn’t happen.

KRNV-TV posted this video report:

The sale of the academy to the National Guard is progressing and is expected to be completed within the next few months.  National Guard officials say that their usage of the facility will replace the room sales and related economic activities, plus a planned expansion construction program will benefit the area as well.

The Gardnerville Record-Courier has more DETAILS HERE.
The Elko Daily Times report is HERE.
University of Nevada press release HERE (click on letter for full size).
University of Nevada, Reno Fire Science Academy WEBSITE.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

What the 2,000-Yr.-Old EMT Used

THE AID BOX OF THE SHIP'S MEDIC was recently found in the shipwreck of a Mediterranean trading vessel that sank around 130 B.C.  The inspection of the medicine box suggests that the ship carried a medically-trained crew member to administer to the injured and ill sailors.

The shipwreck was first located in 1974 and has been explored by archaeologists since then.  In 1989 the wooden chest containing the medicines was found, but it was only recently that the scientists were able to successfully open it safely and inspect the contents using DNA sequencing technology.

The UK Telegraph reports:

A wooden chest discovered on board the vessel contained pills made of ground-up vegetables, herbs and plants such as celery, onions, carrots, cabbage, alfalfa and chestnuts – all ingredients referred to in classical medical texts.

The tablets, which were so well sealed that they miraculously survived being under water for more than two millennia, also contain extracts of parsley, nasturtium, radish, yarrow and hibiscus.

They were found in 136 tin-lined wooden vials on a 50ft-long trading ship which was wrecked around 130 BC off the coast of Tuscany. Scientists believe they would have been used to treat gastrointestinal complaints suffered by sailors such as dysentery and diarrhoea.

"We still don't know whether it was Roman, Greek or Phoenician, nor do we know whether it was a long distance trading ship operating throughout the Mediterranean or a coastal vessel," said Dr Touwaide.

He said the discovery showed that medical knowledge contained in ancient Greek texts, and later in the writings of Roman scholars such as Pliny, was being put into practise in the Roman Empire.

The New American has a detailed report on this investigation HERE.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

The following is an edited version of a speech that I presented before the Fire Service Higher Education Conference attendees at the National Fire Academy this Saturday:

About Educators and Instructors

Educators are leaders, visionaries and motivators. As educators you strive to take students to a different place. Educators inspire them to accomplish what they have not yet dreamed they may accomplish. But it is hard. We have a great challenge before us. Many students and potential students are contemplating the uncertain future of the American fire and EMS services. They witness their chief officers vilified before city council and in the press. The next generations of leaders see unprecedented political pressure to retain current levels of service while reducing revenue streams. These conditions exist at a time when structural fires are burning hotter and fire growth patterns are occurring unprecedented speeds. We are experiencing flashover in residential structures in 31/2 minutes. The older adult population who is most at risk due to this condition is growing in numbers.

New alternative fuels used in vehicles and structures are emerging. These fuels include biodiesel, hydrogen, ethanol, all electric vehicles and photovoltaic, solar farms and power plants. We are seeing infectious diseases spreading across continents at break neck speed. The recent out break of E coli now affecting over 1,800 people in Germany has reached now the U. S.

We know that training, information, developing and honing new skill sets are the answer. These challenges face us at a time when training dollar investment is at an all time low. So our students, the future leaders of the American fire and EMS services see what is ahead of them. They ponder how they might motivate people in this current environment. They see friends losing their jobs, losing their homes and losing ground against inflation due to pay freezes. They begin to rethink their desire to climb the corporate chain into chief executive officer status.

Man, I am not a cynic but it sure sounds like it. What we can assume is that those who are stepping forward today are the true leaders of tomorrow. They do not have a personal agenda. They truly are inspired to lead. We cannot afford to fail them.

We know the difficult decisions and choices they must make are founded on sound reasoning and based on reliable data, and only after careful analysis of their impact, there cost and there benefit. These difficult decisions and choices demand inclusion of all impacted parties and have direct relationship to organizational values. They must know that critical thinking must include consideration of the political landscape. It is going to take a special brand of courage to undertake this unique challenge.

Not all their decisions will be embraced or popular; however, they must be made regardless.

There is a story about a grandfather, grandson and their mule. As the trio proceeded on a long journey, they were continually stopped by observers. The grandfather was scolded that he should let the boy ride on the mule, not walk, because the boy is young and appeared tired. A little farther on the journey, the boy was scolded and told the grandfather should ride because the grandfather is old. Eventually, they were told that they should both ride. Then they were told that they should carry the mule, because the mule has always worked so hard for them. Each time, they obliged the requests, but as they tried to carry the mule, they became over burdened, as they crossed a bridge, slipped and dropped the mule over a side rail and the mule drowned. "The moral of this story is: When you try to please everybody, you're going to lose your ass".

There is no magic pill, no simple solution for these complicated and far reaching challenges. In America we love simplicity. Our approach in many cases has been to apply a simple solution to a complicated problem.

There is a long list; a long list of failures I might add:

· A national problem with alcohol consumption? – Prohibition.

· A national crime problem? Three strikes you are out.

· Dependence on foreign oil? Add 10% ethanol to our gasoline.

· New Orleans sinking? Build levees and install huge pumps to keep the water levels down.

We know that problem solving begins with sound strategic planning and demands skills that take advantage of among other things:

· GIS

· Smart development

· Contemporary prevention, and mitigation technologies and programs

· A good dose of political and community involvement

All have their place in our classrooms today.

We want our future leaders to see beyond how things are. Seek solutions through innovation, partnerships and solutions that are realized vicariously through others including the private sector. We cannot continue to conduct ourselves as we have in the past and continue to exist as a profession. Not in the new normal. Normal is new each day. Our future leaders have to know that failed attempts at creating solutions must be set aside or retooled and new approaches found. They have to bounce back.

We do not have a choice in this matter. We cannot afford to fail. It is the people in this room and those like us that must show the next generation of fire and EMS leadership they way through this challenging time.

Mohammed Ali had a great line at the peak of his career when he was asked, "How many sit-ups do you do?" He said, "I don't count all my sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting. When I feel pain, that's when I start counting, because that's when it really counts."

It will not be easy. It will be hard. There will be some pain, however we are counting on the next generation of fire and EMS leaders to carry on the great tradition of service to our country and our citizens.

(Chief Gaines is currently the acting U. S. Fire Administrator.)

*  *  *  *  *

"The mission will not stop for hurt feelings. The most common injury in the fire service is hurt feelings. Too often it isn’t even the act of hurting feelings but the fear that something could hurt feelings that delays a program, decision or action. You must temper yourself and your reactions to critique and criticism if you expect others to respond objectively in the name of progress."  – - Brian Brush

Join John and Rhett for a live Firefighter Netcast Show on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 9 pm Eastern. This week’s featured guest, Brian Brush, is a Lieutenant and instructor in the Denver metropolitan area for a department that serves 110 square miles, and nearly 300,000 residents.

Lt. Brush will be discussing his take on training, his involvement with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb events, and his recent blogging gig at FireServiceWarrior.com.

CLICK HERE for the direct link to the netcast and to participate by either call-in or messaging.

　*  *  *  *  *  *  *

ARE YOU ONE IN A MILLION?

There are about 50 emergency service instructors who can be a keynote speaker at a national conference. They have a unique or compelling story that is effectively presented with emotion and drama.

There are another 500 who are considered outstanding national instructors or subject matter experts. They have mastered a technical, conceptual, legal or political aspect of the job and they freely share their information with others.

You read their blogs and trade journal articles. Some write books. They are at hands-on training sessions and regional conferences. Some, like The Seattle "Air Management" Guys or Dave "Reading Smoke" Dodson, move into a national conference big room.

There are 5,000 firefighters and medics who are righteous regional instructors. They are the informal leader in the fire company, work as a state fire/ems instructor, and are the go-to person within their department.

Some teach at the community college or university. These folks have a laptop with a dozen projects somewhere between concept and completion.

ONE WHO WAS MAKING A DIFFERENCE

I was thinking about this while standing in a long viewing line, an out-of-place fossil in a dark suit on a summer day three years ago.

Surrounded by hundreds of uniformed Eastern Shore paramedics, EMTs, firefighters and police officers.

I was neither family nor co-worker, but the line-of-duty-death of Stephanie Callaway staggered me.

Sussex County Paramedic Callaway graduated from my EMS Management program. I met her family at commencement. She was one of the 5,000 who could have become part of the top 500.

At the 2011 Congressional Fire Service Institute dinner, the Odessa Fire Company received the first MedicAlert sponsored "Excellence in Fire Service Based EMS" award for an all-volunteer organization.

The two-station New Castle County based fire/heavy rescue/ems company referenced the awful Delaware experience with three significant ambulance crashes in 2008 as a motivating factor in their efforts to deliver safety-focused EMS.  It is a bittersweet reminder of what could have been.

ONE WHO IMPACTED THOUSANDS

When Bill Carey set up Backstep Firefighter his goal was "To provide a point of critical thought about certain acts and events in the fire service while incorporating behavioral education and commentary in a referenced format."

Carey said that he was influenced by discussions he had with Andrew Fredericks, FDNY Engine 48 and Squad 18.

Fredericks was one of the top 50, working to improve fire attack procedures. This article explains the Fredericks statue at the Rockland County Fire Training Center.

The following description is part of the Lt. Andrew A. Fredericks Memorial Resident Scholars Chair webpage at the New York State Academy of Fire Service:

Andy would regularly be found in the Fire Academy Library with books, articles and other research material spread out before him. Andy frequently encouraged other instructors to "research, research, research."

LINK to Andrew Fredericks Training Days

ONE THAT RAISED THE BAR FOR ANOTHER

Louis CK describes how George Carlin changed his approach to the work of comedy:

Prolific, hard working… This is the way I would say George has had the most direct influence on me personally as a comedian. The guy did about seventeen full hour standup specials. Very generously, he explained how he pulled this off in a terrific interview that is available on a cd called Carlin on Carlin.

He talks about spending every year on the road, working specifically on the next special. Every show has a goal, to hone the specific set he is expecting to shoot at the end of the year. Like writing a book. When he shoots the special, it's over. That material goes away and he starts again.

I listened to that interview one night, in my car, while coming from a show where I had just done my regular, stump speech hour that took me fifteen years to perfect … The show had gone well … It was solid material … I'd been doing comedy for almost twenty. So what? Then I heard George explaining his process and I was terrified and inspired. What balls, to just chuck out perfectly good material and start again.

My first hour of material took fifteen years to write and I did it for another five. My second hour took one year. I shot it as a special called "Shameless" and never performed that material again. After a hard year of touring I shot "Chewed Up" and now that material is gone and I'm working on another hour now, from scratch.

This is something I never dreamed I'd be able to do, let alone learn to do this late in my life and career. It has given me a new lease on life as a comedian and as a person. It's made me better, more honest and has made every single show of the last three years mean more than any shows in the previous 20.

All of that is due to George. His example, and his words in that interview, were an absolute revolution in my life. I owe him EVERYTHING.

Are you one of the 2 million ready to be one of the 5000, 500 or one of the 50?

Originally published July 1, 2008.  Updated April 11, 2011

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

While waiting for a student … to sign a paper … to late enroll

Best snow story from Too Old To Work, Too Young to Retire: I Love A Story With A Happy Ending

For all you you struggling in today’s blizzard, be safe!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Unexpected follow up from: Sorrow versus Shock: The Last Text

Two of the teens killed in the AT&T video were probably not wearing their seatbelts.

Too Old To Work says that neither video message will work, like the gory driver safety films of my youth.

(link to “Ohio Highway Patrol Mechanized Death Driving Safety Films“)

Holy cow, a 2003 documentary film and website:

Hell’s Highway

THE HIGHWAY SAFETY FOUNDATION: A CHRONOLOGY

David Edelstein’s July 11, 2003 review of the film for Slate.com.

Unsafe at Any Speed: The pornography of highway safety films.

There is a primitive horror in watching the hand-held camera move in on flashing police lights in the night, then get right up to smashed cars, then fasten on shattered faces covered in glass and blood and bodies twisted in unnatural positions. Sometimes you can hear the real moans and shrieks of the injured and dying. Once the camera catches a man at the instant of death.

Whatever the filmmakers’ intentions, this was pornography then, and its liberal use in the documentary—which features stomach-turning shots of a dead baby under a car—makes it feel like pornography now. Hell’s Highway isn’t nearly as revelatory or as penetrating as it would need to be to overcome the exploitation factor.

NOW FOR SOMETHING DOWN UNDER

While I will tend to agree with Too Old To Work, the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) is a Victorian Government-owned organization set up in 1986 that has had a different experience with their safety videos.

TAC’s role is to pay for treatment and benefits for people injured in transport accidents. It is also involved in promoting road safety in Victoria and in improving Victoria’s trauma system.

This 5:22 minute video:
TAC Campaign – 20 year Anniversary retrospective montage
is powerful.

12.1 million views.

from the video:

On December 10th 1989 the first TAC commercial went to air. In that year the road toll was 776; by last year 2008 it had fallen to 303. (287 deaths for 2010)

A five minute retrospective of the road safety campaigns produced by the TAC over the last 20 years has been compiled. The montage features iconic scenes and images from commercials that have helped change they way we drive, all edited to the moving song Everybody Hurts by REM.

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward

Accused of Stealing $500,000 From Students

 MT. SAN ANTONIO COLLEGE IN WALNUT, CALIFORNIA, has a Fire Technology program that offers a variety of courses including fire academy preparation for people who want to become firefighters.  The Fire Tech section typically has about 1,000 students enrolled each semester and has been headed by a retired fire officer, Jerry Dewayne Austin who is listed in the school website as Professor / Department Chair.

Last week Austin was arrested and then arraigned on Monday on charges that he stole as much as a half-million dollars from the Fire Tech students.  At a time not disclosed, Austin opened a bank account under another school administrator’s name, using the college’s employer identification number, and managed to deposit every check that was written to the Fire Tech section including all the tuition payments.  The sheriff believes that Austin charged the students an inflated price for their tuition and kept the overages for himself.

A tip to the college back in September about the bank account led to an investigation that turned up the scheme.  Austin is being held in jail under a $3 million dollar bond because he is considered a flight risk.  He has converted much of his ill-gotten gains to properties outside the United States.

The Daily Bulletin has the story along with some background information on Austin HERE.
Mt. San Antonio College WEBSITE.
Fire Technology Section’s WEBPAGE .

A doctoral student at the University of Maryland is conducting a serious research study to assess how interview candidates for an entry-level firefighting position are rated and The Backstep Firefighter is recruiting helpers to participate in the study.  According to Bill Carey, you will be asked to act as an interview assessor for six candidates for an entry-level firefighting position. The study is fully online, and should take 40 minutes to an hour to complete.

It sounds both enlightening and entertaining.  So CLICK HERE to read about the project and sign up to do your part.

This happened last Halloween as well.

Brian Barrett at Gizmodo has some details (HERE)

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward