I started my EMS journey in 1997. I, too, was a baby medic in Orlando, so most of the calls and stations that you mention, I know personally. Even though the calls you ran were before I started working for the local 911 ambulance company, their legacy carried on. I worked alongside most of the same people you did, in one way or another, and I have heard of some of the calls you mentioned.
What really hit home for me were the last 2 chapters. I really wish that I could get my mom to listen to them. Maybe then she might understand my demons. You described what the families (and friends) of Firefighters and EMT’s and Medics need to hear. It’s not all flashy lights and sirens to blow red lights. It is real life and death decisions. More than “what do you want on your pizza” decisions. Where seconds feel like minutes. It’s not until you get your run times that you realize that from dispatch to at hospital with a trauma alert was 12 minutes. I loved my OFD team.
Thank you for writing this book; I laughed. I cried. I took a 5 and half hour rollercoaster ride to where I learned who I was. Who I am now. I needed it.
PS: Long Live Steineyman!! Legend!!