Another day, another blogger who is knocking our socks off.
This is a particularly exciting blog profile because it is our first EMT blog! Today’s Top FIRE & EMT Blog is…
Rescuing Providence.
Rescuing Providence is run by Captain Morse. Captain Morse is a Rescue Captain in Providence.
And like our other bloggers, Morse’s multitasking abilities are extremely impressive.
Not only is he whizzing around Providence savings lives and helping the sick and injured, he is also writing books and a blog about it.
I know, I know, I’ve said it before: But how does he have the time!? Not just to accomplish it all, but in such a successful way. Rescuing Providence‘s blog is truly a great one for EMTs & FFs. It’s chalk-full of advice, news briefs, and a ton of day-to-day inside-the-ambulance stories.
Here’s more from the Captain himself:
How would you describe Rescuing Providence? I started the Blog in 2006, thinking people would be interested in learning what happens inside an advanced life support vehicle in Providence, RI. The stories I tell are true, names and locations get mixed around to protect patient’s confidentiality.
It’s just a place where people can visit and get a picture of different person’s lives. Sometimes it’s happy, sometimes not so much, but the stories help put our own lives into perspective.
Also, because this is my blog I am able to tell most stories in a way that makes me look like a great EMT, compassionate and caring. Most of the time I am. I conveniently leave out the times I am not. But hey, it IS my blog!
What is the focus or mission of the blog? I like to think of Rescuing Providence as an Anthropological look at the people who live in the city through the eyes of an emergency responder, that being me.
Why did you start it? Rescuing Providence is a book that was published in 2001 by Paladin Press. I started the blog to promote the book, the blog took on a life of its own!
Is this your first blog? This is the first, and will be the last.
What’s your favorite thing to write about? I like writing about mundane things that have a spark of life when you peel things back. Everybody has a story, few are ever told.
Do you have a least favorite topic? I do not like writing about people’s personal shortcomings, or ridicule a person in any way, and pass on writing posts that exploit a person’s frailty.
How would you describe the EMS blog community? I found out about blogs by “googling” ems blogs. A day in the Life of an Ambulance Driver was the first to come up, and I read it to this day. I started blogging before Facebook took over, and there were four or five blogs I read daily, and still do. A lot have come and gone over the years, if you do not enjoy writing, and always seek to improve your writing style, people stop visiting, and without readers, blogging is not very much fun.
What would you say has been your best experience as a blogger? By writing daily, my skill as a writer has improved considerably. I like to look at the things I wrote six years ago and compare that to what I’m doing now and see the difference. I imagine in five years I’ll look at today’s writing and see where it could have been better.
What have you learned? That I love to write, and am fortunate that it comes naturally, albeit with tweaking along the way.
Any stories you’d like to share?
This girl broke my heart, but her courage was inspiring:
It would have been better if she was what I expected. It would have been a lot easier if she was some drunk, crazy, screaming meanie, filled with booze and hate, fighting with some other girls about whatever it is they fight about. It would have been just another call if she just cooperated, and was obnoxious, and demanding and thought the world revolved around her, and ignored me and paid more attention to her phone. That would have made it easy.
But it wasn’t easy.
She was adorable, and sober, and dressed for a night dancing with her boyfriend. She was worried that her mom would be mad that she got hurt. She wasn’t drunk, she didn’t even drink. She was in the line of fire, that’s all. The wrong place at the wrong time. She was in the way when a drunk, crazy, screaming meanie threw a bottle, and her face broke the intended path,and more glass started to fly, and fists and kicks started, and when it ended her beautiful face was sliced up, and her teeth were broken, and her eyeball gouged, and a four inch laceration bled from the top of her breast and soaked her dress with blood.
I wish she hadn’t smiled through the mask of blood, and then winced with pain when the jagged edges of her skin moved, and her lip separated when I asked her her name.
And most of all, I wish she hadn’t told me with another painful smile that her name is Marlin. Marlin, like the fish, she said, and asked me if her face would be okay.
If you win, to which charity will you donate your $200 winnings? Why? I’m a firefighter, and The Leary Foundation supports firefighters.
Want to hear more of Captain Morse’s EMT stories? Click here to read his blog. To vote for your favorite EMT & Fire Blog, click here!
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