Reviews – Recent Books

Technically, it’s one book that I recently read. Not an especially long read, but a hard one in many ways.

The title, Where You’ll Find Me, published in 2015, is an account of the rescue attempt of a hiker named Kate Matrasova, a New York City-based hiker who was attempting to traverse five peaks in New Hampshire’s Presidential Range. By all accounts, she was a physically fit, experienced hiker who had been to a number of different places worldwide where the hiking challenges were brutal.

Unfortunately, her talent and experience didn’t account for the challenge of these mountains. The Presidential Range is notorious not necessarily because of the climbing (New Hampshire is the home 48 mountains where the summits are 4,000 feet high at a minimum) but because of the weather. One of the mountains in the middle of the range is Mount Washington. At a height of 6,288 feet it is the tallest mountain in the northeastern United States. While it is not near the height of Mount Rainier or McKinley (Denali), it has some of the fiercest weather world-wide. High winds and cold temperatures are not unheard of in summer, and a regular occurrence in winter.

Her hike was intended to be a fourteen hour trek. She had researched the route, the weather conditions, and what she would need for gear. She also had selected six bailout locations where she could get below the tree line if she got into trouble. The distance wasn’t exceptionally long, but the weather conditions would turn out to be a factor in her failure, and ultimately, her death off of the Star Lake Trail on Mount Adams.

Ty Gagne, the author of this memoir, did a really good job of recounting the efforts of the rescuers as well as following what was believed to be her hiking route to where she ended up off of the trail, exposed to the weather, unable to make her way to the tree line. He described the process of hypothermia, from mild to severe, and how it affects the human body. He also recounted what was found near her, and what was not, including food, frozen water bottles, and the communications equipment she brought with her.

It is a really good study about risk, and the decisions people make under potentially arduous conditions. And it is well-written; Gagne does a noteworthy job with his narrative. Probably the hardest part of the memoir is reading the account, rooting for her, and knowing what the result will be. That was like a gut punch.

With that said, I would high recommend it just the same. As I write this post, I am listening to it again as an audiobook. I fully expect to pick some of what I likely missed in my initial reading.

Multitasking

This is something I don’t do especially well, especially lately for some reason. Part of the reason has to do with the workload; there is a lot happening with my full-time employer, in terms of events and operational stuff. In addition, I have a couple of side gigs that I am pretty busy with also.

The other reason is that I deal Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, better known as ADHD. That affects how I function. Medication helps, but not always.

I shouldn’t be this busy; I’m an old guy. But it’s keeping my reasonably young, so I shouldn’t complain.

Yesterday I sat in remotely on a meeting of the operations staff where I work. I’m fortunate that I don’t have to participate directly unless there is a need for me to contribute. Most of what is discussed are upcoming events over a two week period. Nothing that is earth-shattering, but it is good to know what is happening in our areas of responsibility.

As I said, I have multiple employers. My main employer, where I work full-time, is a state agency that is responsible for the EMS and trauma systems in the state where I live. My two part-time jobs are with an organization that provides EMS education services, and the other is privately owned ambulance company that has municipal contracts in the Merrimack Valley area of Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. Juggling those can be hard sometimes, but I like all of the places where I work, and I’m able to make a reasonably decent living.

In any case, it’s time for me to go back to stumbling through multiple work items. It has taken me two days to write this post, but at least I got through it in the midst of working on other things.

Maybe I can multitask after all. I’ll have to try this again on another day.

Returning From A Long Hiatus

It has been a long time since I’ve done any writing to speak of. Years, in fact. I think part of the reason is that I simply wasn’t inspired to do any, for quite a while. Not writing, I think, was a mistake; there has been quite a bit of water that has flowed over the proverbial dam over the past few years. For whatever reason, my creative juices have started to flow again, and I’ve decided to pick this back up.

I think one of the things that caused this – and it was actually a little bit strange when this happened, but I don’t question things I have no control over – was that I inadvertently opened the WordPress app on my smartphone and was prompted to transition to JetPack. For grins, I did. When I opened it up I discovered it has a lot of really good features; more than the original WordPress app. My initial post using this app was done on my phone, and I decided to download it onto my iPad as well. Since I have a Bluetooth keyboard, I find it is easier to work on this (what I’m working on as I write now) than the phone, and I can actually type faster. So this post is coming courtesy of a larger screen and a quasi-mechanical keyboard.

One thing to mention is that my wife and I are traveling, so this is a partial travelogue post, among other things. We were invited to the wedding of a family member – our nephew – who lives in central California. I am actually writing this post from the Hotel Del Monte, located on the campus of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. I had never been here, but I’m glad we came. The hotel itself has a rich history; it has been moved a couple of times to where it is now, and the current building has had to be rebuilt from the ground up twice. It is a beautiful setting, and the campus is both much smaller than I initially expected, and it is a typical military installation in that it follows protocols I know from when I served in the Marine Corps. That, at least, was some familiarity that I found some comfort in.

We are staying in a room which is actually a small suite. It consists of a bedroom, a kitchenette, a sitting area, and a bathroom which is actually in two parts. The toilet and bathtub/shower are in their own little room and the bathroom sink in a space outside of this little room. The kitchenette is surprisingly outfitted really well. It includes a sink, a refrigerator, two burner induction stove, and a bunch of kitchen cabinets. There is one large closet and four small ones, which I can’t quite figure out. And there are two ceiling fans, one in the bedroom and one in the sitting area. Plus two television sets, which I find a little mind-blowing. All in all, it’s really quite nice. In terms of space, it is almost as big as the second floor of my house.

As I look out the window, I am overlooking a couple of small buildings which I suspect are maintenance buildings, but I don’t know this. One consistent thing I have noticed about California every time I’ve been out here is the terra cotta roofing. It is not nearly as common in the Northeast; most of the roofing back home is either metal or asphalt shingles. I imagine both are effective enough if they’re compared to each other. But I think it is really a situation of where utility is in the eye of the beholder.

Well – this is the second post I’ve written today. I’m actually reasonably surprised that I’ve been able to do this, and I’m pleased with myself. One of the things this application allows is to set prompts as to when to post. I have set a three day per week prompt, and I’ll have to see if I can maintain doing that. Hopefully I can. Another thing: this app asks a question daily, and depending on where I am for head space, I may try to answer. We’ll see.

Job Satisfaction

Do you enjoy your job?

This is always an interesting question.

The short answer is “yes – I do enjoy my job.” And the follow up question is usually “why?” In my case, it’s pretty easy to answer that.

I actually work in multiple places, all of which are related to Emergency Medical Services. I’ve had an interesting work life including two different careers prior to EMS. The first was service in the United States Marine Corps, as an infantry Marine and as a musician, and the second was in the technology sector, primarily doing computer hardware integration, writing software, and implementing data and voice communication networks. Working as an EMS provider turned out to be what I was called to do, however. And I have never looked back, although skills I’ve picked up in my past lives have come in handy from time to time.

My full-time “day job” is managing and supporting New Hampshire’s statewide trauma system. There are 26 acute care hospitals located in New Hampshire. Of those, 11 of them are designated as hospitals situated to provide care to trauma patients. Technically, every acute care hospital has the ability to provide stabilizing care and transfer to a hospital with more resources and the ability to provide definitive care to these patients. My job is to support these hospitals, whether or not they participate actively as a member of the trauma system.

I enjoy this for a simple reason: the work I do keeps the system functioning properly, which is ultimately in the best interests of these patients. Plus I get to collaborate with people smarter than me, and most of the time I get to learn from them.

My other two gigs, also related to EMS, involve teaching and actually practicing medicine. The teaching job is one I’ve done for a number of years – at this point I believe I’m in my fourteenth year. I am a credentialed instructor for the American Heart Association and I teach a number of their courses. I also am a skills evaluator for the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians. This gives me the opportunity to evaluate people who have gone through the process of being trained to work as Advanced Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics to ensure they are competent. There is also a written examination in addition to the practical skills testing they undergo. Both are important. In the future, however, this will likely change somewhat. The degree of this, as of now, is not clear.

Finally, I still work on the road as a Paramedic at 60 years of age. I have been doing this for a total of nearly 30 years at every level of licensure with the majority of that time – approximately 18 years – as a Paramedic. This is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak. We see patients who are sometimes in a situation they never expect to find themselves in. More often than not, it is not nearly as bad as it could be, but from time to time it is potentially devastating. Our job is to provide appropriate medical care and transport to a hospital where proper definitive care can be administered. The overwhelming majority I have worked with throughout my career have endeavored to do this, and I have been both awed and humbled by them, plus I’ve learned a lot, which I am grateful for. This is probably the most important thing about our work, and there is a legitimate reason why medicine is “practiced”; every situation is different, and what could be considered appropriate care in one may be totally wrong in another. It helps to keep this in mind.