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The 10th Annual EMS Holiday Gift Guide

by Norm & Vicki Rooker

12/11/2008

Seasons Greetings everyone and welcome to EMS Magazine's 10th Annual Holiday Gift Guide. When we started this a decade ago it was the result of searching for just the right gifts for both our personal family and extended work "families" of rescuers and rescuers-to-be. Along with our own nieces, nephews and grandchildren, Vicki and I have literally dozens of "almost" nieces and nephews as well, so field testing our gift ideas is never a problem.

Toys for the Pre-School Rescuer-to Be

As always, let us begin with some suggestions for those young rescuers-to-be, as that is a large part of what holiday gift giving is about. That and sharing love, respect, and mentorship, as well as fanning interests and stimulating young minds.

Let's begin with toys and play sets. If you're looking for EMT dress up costumes, go to Roberts or Galls. They have costumes, jackets, helmets and accessories for EMS, fire suppression and law enforcement, all at fairly reasonable prices plus S&H.

Next up is a set of 6 hand-painted, wooden emergency vehicles that come in their own house-shaped case. They are marketed as Wooden Rescue Vehicles by Melissa and Doug. The set includes a fire truck, a fire engine, a fire boat, an ambulance, a police car and a rescue helicopter. The set sells for between $15 and $20 depending on where you purchase it. And yes, this play set is made in China.

For very young EMTs to be, ages 2 and up, there is Chelona's Ambulance City Peg Puzzle. This is your basic simple wooden puzzle set with pegs in each of the pieces of a suburban home with an ambulance prominently parked in front of it. It lists for $11.40 at Amazon.com.

How about stickers, whether for the young or for that EMS scrap-booker in your life? The folks at EK Sticko Stickers have created two different sets that are available from $1.09 to $3.29 from multiple sources including Amazon.com or Create For less. Check them out on Create For Less's web page.

There are several wooden ambulance play sets out there, ranging from an individual two medic crew carrying a patient on a litter (from Hape International for $3.99) to entire EMS and hospital play sets. The folks at Woody Click seem to have the widest variety from an individual ambulance for $6.49 to an entire play set in a box for $79.97, all at Amazon.com.

During one late-night search of the net for rescue toys I came across a unique item, a set of 4 Emergency Rescue Squad Puppets. Developed by Pretend and Play, the set of 4 puppets, two male and two female, includes a firefighter, a paramedic, a police officer and a doctor. Available from $10.91 to $35 depending on where you purchase it. Available at Amazon.com. .

Toys for the School-Age Rescuer-to-Be

For older children and those fans of the GI Joe 12-inch action figures or Barbie, the folks at America's Finest, a company that makes mostly 12-inch military action figures, have come out with a female EMT action figure complete with several accessories. She is available from various sources but I found the lowest price at Amazon.com for $22.99 and at the time of this writing, Amazon was also offering free S&H on all of their toys. Check it out at Amazon.com.

How about a squad or service present for your local school or playground? One option is an ambulance-shaped single riding toy set on a giant spring, which is bolted into a concrete block in the ground. You've seen them before, usually in the shape of various animals. Well this one I came across at Amazon.com is an ambulance that the youngster sits on top of. It lists for $834.99 so this is more of a squad or service gift/project rather than something for individuals, but well worth checking out at Amazon.com.

Books for Kids

Moving on to books that will stimulate the imaginations of those young rescuers-to-be, our friends at The Firefighter's Bookstore have imported another British book for preschool-age rescuers entitled RESCUE VEHICLES POP-UP BOOK. This heavy card stock book features a colorful collection that includes an ambulances and of course a fire engine. Also featured are law enforcement motorcycles, a rigid hulled inflatable, a rescue helicopter and a fixed wing air ambulance.

RESCUE VEHICLES POP-UP BOOK
David Crossley
Robert Frederick, Ltd. 2002
ISBN: 0-90778-951-X
$3.00 from the Firefighter's Bookstore

This summer I received a newly published book aimed at young children, written by a veteran firefighter with the rather ambitious goal of demystifying CPR for young children. It is entitled SAVING PAW PAW: A LESSON IN CPR. This is a rather fanciful tale about a family of kittens that live in a garage and like to visit the house. The lady of the house feeds them but the man is very gruff and yells at the kittens if he catches them watching TV through the window with him.

One day the man comes home looking very ill. He doesn't yell at the kittens even though he sees them on the porch. The young cats thought this was unusual and watch the man as he tries to sit down, passes out and falls to the ground. They run over and check on him and discover he is not breathing. One of the TV shows they had watched through the window demonstrated CPR so they create their own version, hopping off the porch railing onto the man's chest while one of the cats knocks the phone off the hook and dials 911.

When I read the press release describing this book, I was like "Yeah, right. This ought to do it." (With more than a little sarcasm and other less-than-kind thoughts.) But I was pleasantly surprised when I actually sat down and read it. SAVING PAW PAW is colorfully illustrated and the story, while wildly imaginative, actually works. This book is worth considering as a gift, for that young rescuer-to-be or as a gift for your local elementary school or public library.

SAVING PAW PAW: A LESSON IN CPR
Sean & Catherine Hodge
AuthorHouse, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4343-3214-1
$8.00 plus S&H

Still looking for something for those 4-6 year old rescuers-to-be? Check out Joanne Randolph's AMBULANCES (TO THE RESCUE). This is one of those hardcover first reader books, the kind that has one or two sentences on the left hand page and a colorful photo or illustration on the right.

AMBULANCES begins by explaining that ambulances help people every day and they are crewed by people who are there to help us. From there it follows the usual child's book about EMS or rescue by talking about some of the equipment that ambulances carry and the levels of training. AMBULANCES concludes with a simple glossary, with each word illustrated by a small photo and some useful web sites where the young reader can go and learn more about EMS. All in all, a nice new book about EMS for beginning readers.

AMBULANCES (TO THE RESCUE)
Joanne Randolph
PowerKids Press, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4042-4150-3
$21.25 from Amazon.com

How about gifts for older readers such as 2nd through 5th graders? Two recommendations are TSUNAMI: Helping Each Other, and PARAMEDICS TO THE RESCUE: When Every Second Counts.

As most of you remember on December 26th, 2004 a massive 9.3 magnitude earthquake cut loose beneath the Indian Ocean. The resulting tsunami, a tidal wave, struck multiple coastlines in Southeast Asia causing death & destruction on a huge scale that affected 34 countries around the world with an estimated loss of 250 to 300,000 lives.

TSUNAMI: Helping Each Other is the story of this event as told by two young brothers who lived in a small fishing village on the coast of Thailand and survived the devastating series of Tsunamis that took their father's life. The boys, 12-year-old Chaipreak and his 8 year-old brother, Chaiya, were running down to the beach to play with their friends when they noticed that it had suddenly gotten very quiet. No animal noises whatsoever.

They looked about and spotted the first tidal wave rushing toward the beach and both boys turned and scrambled up to the top of the tallest nearby coconut tree. The waves almost reached them and their tree swayed in the currents and rushes of each wave but they survived.

It was many days before they were reunited with their mother, and their father's body was never found. This is not the cheeriest of books but neither is it all doom and gloom. The authors, Ann Morris, author of more than 100 children's books and Heidi Larson, a photographer, do a great job of telling the tale in a way that children can understand and at the same time explaining the science of what caused the tsunamis.

TSUNAMI is richly supported with multiple photographs and illustrations on each set of pages. The combination of good writing richly supported with appropriate photos and illustrations bring this disaster down to a very human and understandable tale - not just of the event, but of the aftermath and of life moving forward under new circumstances. Even after losing a parent.

The Boxing Day Tsunamis of 2004 have been an area of interest for me and I have read close to two dozen books on the event and the international response to it. TSUNAMI: Helping Each Other is the single best book aimed at young readers that I have come across.

TSUNAMI: Helping Each Other
Ann Morris & Heidi Larson
Millbrook Press, 2005
ISBN: 0-7613-9501-6
$14.35 from Amazon.com

Also written for 7-11 year old group is Michael Silverstone's PARAMEDICS TO THE RESCUE: When Every Second Counts. To begin with, PARAMEDICS TO THE RESCUE is one well written book, probably one of the best I have come across for this age group. It is written for both the US, Canadian and European markets and the photos and explanations reflect this.

The book begins with the question, "Just what is an emergency and who responds to it?" From there Mr. Silverstone goes on to explain that rescuers have a basic five point check list; Be Safe, Arrive Prepared, Get Information, Stop the Harm and Get Going. He then goes on to illustrate each point.

From there he discusses, through words and photos, the history of EMS and how it is applied. With this foundation in place, he goes on to talk about various rescues including many different forms of specialty EMS such as military medicine/combat medics, structural collapse rescue medicine and care from the air.

He concludes with a chapter entitled "What Would You Do?" And, as with most books of this type, he concludes with a glossary, helpful web sites where young readers can go for more information and a definition of the various types or levels of EMS providers. All in all, it's one very nicely written and illustrated book about our craft and avocation that should fan the flames of interest in the minds of those young medics-to-be.

PARAMEDICS TO THE RESCUE
Michael Silverstone
Red Brick Learning, 2005
ISBN: 0-7368-3849-X
$9.00 from Amazon.com

Gifts for the Adult Rescuer

Moving on to older rescue types, or as Vicki calls them, children of all ages. If that rescuer in your life is a fan of the 1970's hit television show EMERGENCY! -- are you in luck! Our friends and long time supporters of this column at the Firefighters Bookstore, (https://firebooks.com) have Seasons 1 through 4 on DVD available for around $44 each.

But for the true EMERGENCY! Fan, you might want to consider Richard Yonkley & Rozane Sutherland's book EMERGENCY! BEHIND THE SCENE. Their book talks very briefly about the origins of paramedics and the birth of the TV show but then launches into the show itself. Every episode is discussed; the actors, the plot line as well as location, vehicle and station specifics for that show. As a general read, it is only so-so. For the EMERGENCY! aficionado, it is almost a must-have.

EMERGENCY! BEHIND THE SCENE
R. Yokley & R. Sutherland
Jones & Bartlett
ISBN: 10: 076374896X
$24.95

(Speaking of EMERGENCY! And television series, I ran into actor Randolph Mantooth, aka Johnny Gage, at the 2008 Fire Rescue International Conference in Denver this past August. [He was also the opening keynote presenter for EMS EXPO 2008 in Las Vegas this past October.] After literally getting down on one knee and thanking him for his work and sharing how after the first season of EMERGENCY! I enrolled in the second pilot EMT course being run by the State of Connecticut in 1973, I talked with him about a couple of his current projects.

For the past five years he has been pitching a show to TV producers with the working title of USAR 1. It would be about the USAR activities of the LA County Fire Department's Special Operations Task Force. So far, because of the expense involved in setting up the "rescues," the show has not been picked up yet by any of the networks. But he is still pitching and working on it.

He did say to watch next year for a reality show, most likely on CBS, called SPEC OPS. Randolph gave that famous Johnny Gage grin and stated that reality shows are much less expensive to produce which is one of the reasons there are so many of them on the airwaves. SPEC OPS would follow the exploits of the Los Angles County Fire Department's Special Operations Unit as they respond to various calls throughout a watch. Reporters would be embedded with the unit somewhat similar to COPS. So keep your eyes out for this show.)

NBC, realizing what a good thing they have going with EMERGENCY! have just released Season One of their hit show, THIRD WATCH, which ran 6 seasons from September 1999 through May 2005. Available from Amazon.com, among other places ranging from $18.95 for a used set to $41.99 for brand new. See Amazon.com. They also have an advanced announcement that NBC may soon be releasing Season 2.

One of the things Vicki and I enjoyed about this show was the research the writers did in an attempt to make the show as real as possible. During the second half of the first season they had multiple writers/interviewers at the EMS TODAY Conference in Orlando, FL. They honed in on Vicki and me as we were a married EMS couple and wanted to get the inside on some of the relationship challenges when your partner is also your spouse. Or on the same watch as you. Don't know if they used any of what we shared with them, among other things that you have higher expectations and lower tolerances than you would with a regular partner, but we appreciated the effort and enjoyed the show, for the most part, even though my bride had been known to verbalize her frustrations at the TV. (Like they would hear her or something.)

Anyway, THIRD WATCH, Season One is another gift idea to consider for the EMS video type in your life.

Still on the topic of TV series, I came across the complete 4-season series, (all 64 episodes) of CHINA BEACH which aired on ABC from 1988 to 1991. The series was a Vietnam era show set at the 510th Evac Hospital co-located with a US Military rest & recovery center at the same location.

CHINA BEACH featured interactions between trauma nurses, doctors, support staff, patients and civilian workers, American, French and Vietnamese. The scripts were culled from multiple interviews with Viet Nam vets and their civilian counterparts. One Memorial Day special featured the filmed interviews with the folks who were really there and the episode as it was written and filmed.

What I particularly liked about the show were the periodic separations from reality as the rest of the world knows it from getting the job done. Of course this was during the time when I was working nights in the Tenderloin section of San Francisco and could relate to this surrealism on a number of levels.

Anyway, this was a well done show about combat EMS/Trauma surgery that won several Emmys. The complete boxed set retails for around $200 but I found it on-line at www.unforgetabletvshows.com for $42.99. Check it out here.

Moving on to the printed word, sort of, is veteran paramedic, keynote speaker at EMS conferences, illustrator and humorist Steve Berry and his I AM NOT AN AMBULANCE DRIVER series. His cartoons poke fun at every one from "the imperial paramedic" to rookie EMTS, medical directors with God complexes, management, patients, receiving hospitals to just those bizarre moments and interactions with society that only those of us in the rescue services can truly appreciate.

With that said, Steve said after he published I AM NOT AN AMBULANCE DRIVER 10, which he dedicated to his late partner, that he would not be publishing any more books. He has instead moved on to computer CDs with downloadable cartoons, animations and power point screen masters.

Steve has created 5 Digital Clips CDs, for $35 each. Each CD includes around 50 cartoons, which include some old time favorites and many new ones, several animated clips, a couple of screen savers and some of them also carry Power Point templates he has created.

Speaking of Power Point, Steve's web site also includes a very extensive free Power Point tutorial section that I found helpful for both power point veterans and for the new instructor as well. There is a backlash/reaction that I am hearing being voiced more frequently from EMS providers attending CE and some merit badge courses such as PHTLS, ACLS, etc. It goes by many names but the most commonly voiced one is Death by Power Point. Steve's tutorials help presenters avoid this phenomenon.

To learn more about Steve Berry's I Am Not An Ambulance Driver series, digital clips, tutorials and more, visit his web site at https://www.iamnotanambulancedriver.com.

Lastly, in the print format, I have three books I would like to recommend. The first two are from down under by a sister paramedic from Sydney, Australia who literally wrote her way out of burnout to create not one, but two EMS "Who Done It" novels with a third one due out next year.

First of all, the problem with writing the great EMS novel is finding a plot line to string all the calls together. This is why there are so few of this type of book out there. It's not that there are not lots of great EMS war stories to be shared, but they are just that. Anecdotes, war stories. They need a good underlying plot to string them of all together and make them relevant to the overall story.

15-year paramedic veteran and now, award winning author Katherine Howell has managed to do just that. In her first two books FRANTIC, which won a literary award for the best Australian crime novel written by a female author in 2007, and her second book, THE DARKEST HOUR, the main characters always include an experienced female paramedic and a veteran police investigator, also a woman.

(One aside here. Ms. Howell shared in an e-mail that the awards committee flew her to Melbourne for the awards banquet. She got all gussied up in a fresh "frock" and before the night was over she found herself down on her knees in the women's "loo" taking care of a woman who had passed out. You know what they say, and it appears to be the same the world round, you can take the medic out of the...")

In each of her books Ms. Howell shows her 15-plus years of urban medic experience in the reality of the scenes she creates/shares with the reader. While some of the local slang is lost on American readers, and some of the words and medications have the British Commonwealth spelling, the overall flow of the tales are intriguing, riveting and very realistic.

On one response to a delusional psych patient I actually found myself wondering if this was one of my former patients who had somehow migrated down under. Needless, to say, Ms. Howell has a very engaging writing style that doesn't over explain things and she has a nice way of ending her stories so the reader fills in some of the implied gaps the way they want the tale to end. A nice touch and part of why I recommend both of her books as presents. Especially if that EMS type in your life is also a mystery fan as well.

To learn more about Katherine Howell, visit her web page at www.katherinehowell.com. Her books are a little difficult to obtain as they are published in Australia but I had the best luck with Amazon.com's Canadian web page, https://www.amazon.ca.com.

For the realist or pragmatist medic on your list, check out WAR SURGERY IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ: A Series of Cases, 2003-2007. This is a high end, weighty tome and somewhat pricey, at $71.00 from Amazon.com but also very fascinating and informative. It is a look at trauma medicine, most of which is driven by innovations developed by military surgeons and other health care providers in response to the increasing lethality developed in each conflict.

The American Civil War saw the creation of the modern EMS service delivery model and echelons of care by Union Dr. David Letterman. The Spanish American War saw the defeat of Yellow Fever and applied epidemiology and vector control.

World War 1 was famous, medically speaking for the innovations in, among other things, orthopedic injuries and care. The Thomas Half Ring traction splint was created during this conflict which has led directly to the development of today's modern long bone traction devices we use in the field.

The Spanish Civil War and World War 2 led to the pioneering use of blood transfusions vs. Plasma, among other things. The Korean War showed us the value of increased speed of transportation of the wounded to appropriate surgical facilities. The Vietnam conflict reinforced this along with improved training in pre hospital care by combat medics and corpsmen.

WAR SURGERY IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ documents through accounts and numerous glossy photos, the devastating wounding power of the ever evolving IEDs, Improvised Explosive Devices and medicine's efforts to overcome the effects on the human body of these devastating injuries.

According to an article in the New York Times, the publication of this book was delayed by an internal fight within military circles on whether the affect these IEDs were having on American and NATO servicemen and women should be shared with the general public - and the enemy.

In the end the practical side of doctors and other health care providers won out. They successfully argued that the enemy already knew the lethal and wounding affects of their IEDs and the public needed to see what the problem really was and what had been learned and was being done to pick up the pieces of our warriors who found themselves in harm's way.

This is far from either a "Feel Good" or "Rhah-Rhah" book. It is a realistic look at military injuries in these two conflicts and what our military surgical and trauma counterparts are doing about them once the injured warrior makes it to "trauma center." And this knowledge will and already is being passed onto us in "civilian" EMS.

Think carefully about whether to give this as a gift. And who will be present when it is unwrapped. But for the serious and thoughtful EMS provider, this just might be the gift for them for the 2008 holiday season.

WAR SURGERY IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ
Edited by LTC Shawn Nesson, Col. Dave Lounsbury & Col. Stephen Hetz
Dept. Of the Army, 2008
ISBN: 0981822800
$71.00 from Amazon.com

That's it for this year's Gift Guide. We hope these suggestions have proven at least interesting, if not helpful for you. In closing, once again Vicki and I would like to wish all of you happy and healthy holidays for you and yours.

Norm and Vicki Rooker have been involved in rescue and EMS for almost 60 years between them. Their extended family includes 4 paramedics, 3 EMTs, a retired ER LVN, 4 other allied health professionals along with 4 step grandchildren and 12 nieces and nephews to help field test most of their gift ideas.

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