features a fun book by Emmy award-winning writer, Chris Treece. Love those EMTs! Plus listen to
(bottom left) for Steve Macchia's interview with John. And this reminder:
to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), and
What’s an ECNALUBMA? Crazy Ambulance Tales is a page-turner! Fun to read, well-written, plus there’s wit and wisdom in every colorful chapter!
Here Comes the ECNALUBMA!“John, when are you going to read a book just for fun?” That was Joanne’s pointed question—and when your wife speaks, you should listen, right?
So “just for fun,” I read the new book,
Crazy Ambulance Tales, by Chris Treece.
This Emmy award winning writer reminisces about his college years in Vermont—learning and serving as an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) on the fire and rescue squad of St. Michael’s College. From first-year “probate” to the crew chief’s seat on the ambulance runs—following the author’s tales (both hilarious and poignant) was absolutely fun and the title is perfect—CRAZY!
But, I need to push back a bit on my wife’s assumptions. I do read lots of fun books. To date, this is Issue No. 516 with another book review (but who’s counting?). My reviews tilt toward leadership and management books (business and nonprofits) and faith-based books. I’m a lifelong learner—and, at least for me, reading and reviewing books is FUN!
So, you’ll understand (even if my wife doesn’t) that I can find leadership and management insights (and deep spiritual content) in almost any book. To be clear—
Crazy Ambulance Tales was exceptionally fun to read, but the leadership learnings popped out frequently. (Sorry, Joanne. I can’t help myself!)
LEADERSHIP/MANAGEMENT INSIGHTS: FUN!SNOOPY! As part of the first-year training to be a certified EMT, the leadership softens the rigorous work by assigning nicknames to the probates. Chris Treece majored in journalism and so “Snoopy” (the
Peanuts comics character—often on his doghouse roof with a typewriter) became the author’s new moniker.
Fun! (How does your team balance critical training with light-hearted moments?)ECNALUBMA. Huh? Yeah—"ECNALUBMA” was the in-house name for their rig. Get it? It’s AMBULANCE spelled backwards—per the large letters on the front of ambulances so it’s visible in your rear view windows—especially in emergencies.
Fun! (What does your organization’s name read when spelled backwards?) SAVED A CHICKEN’S LIFE! When interviewing to become an EMT, the panel asked Chris Treece,
“Have you ever saved a life?” He thought through his Boy Scout years and came up empty, but then offered this: “Well…I saved a chicken.” (The panel almost convulsed in laughter!)
Treece added, “I got to be known in my neighborhood as a guy who was really good with bandages and iodine, mostly due to self-inflicted injuries via bicycles, go-karts and dog bites.” So a neighbor asked him to examine her chicken that had been attacked by a dog. He administered first aid on the left wing joint.
A panelist asked, “And what was your level of success with the patient?”“She lived,” Treece proudly said. “Still producing about two eggs at day, I’ve been told.” (More laughter by the interviewers!)
Fun!LEAD! Early on, his mentor (the crew chief) told Treece to take the crew chief command on a routine transport of a patient from a smaller hospital to a large medical center. Treece confesses the awkwardness of telling his chief what to do. He still remembers the valuable debrief:
“You’re the chief. You’ve got to lead. Nothing is worse than a crew chief who won’t lead, and in fact you’ll never become the chief if you can’t lead.”A.B.C. Reading this book, I thought back to the First Aid class in my college days (and the final exam in a live triage setting!) and many years of summer camp staff training with counselors and lifeguards. So I appreciated this refresher on the
helpful memory devices employed by the St. Michael’s crew.
•
A.B.C. – “What is most important in the patient’s care? Their A.B.C.: airway, breathing, and circulation.”
•
O.P.Q.R.S.T.U. – “What are the questions for a patient exam? Onset, provokes, quality, region, severity, times, undoes.”
• And this:
“What is your first job on the scene? To make sure it’s safe. A dead rescuer saves nobody.”Plus, sometimes the author would wander into an EMT night class “…greet everyone cheerfully, then promptly flail about and keel over on the floor.” Every student remembered the instructor’s immediate response.
So…with that introduction and context—you'll dive deep into
Crazy Ambulance Tales—and you won’t stop talking about this book. The chapter titles are way too tempting!
• The Double Forking
• God Smiles on Drunks and Babies
•
The Patient Is Hiding in the Closet • A Bit Too Much Creamed Corn with Lunch
• No Public Displays of Affection (PDA), Please!
•
Transporting Buddha and John Lennon • 25 Below at 5 a.m.
Whew! You’re right there in the ambulance (I mean the ECNALUBMA) on those 2 a.m. calls to horrific traffic accidents, fires, and dangerous encounters. My appreciation for first responders just skyrocketed.
Oh, my. I’m so, so grateful that women and men are called to serve on the front lines. This book also reminded me of the courageous officers profiled in
L.A. Cop, by Bob Vernon.
Somehow, though,
the author’s masterful storytelling blends unbelievable danger with (almost) a stand-up comedy narrative tucked cleverly into those pages when you wonder out loud—“How do they deal with these challenges, day after day, and often at night and working holidays?”
Not fun! But…the author’s humor is refreshing—which is what we should expect from an ECNALUBMA crew chief named Snoopy!
Fun!CENSORED! Treece wrote a weekly column, “Fire & Rescue Blotter” for the college newspaper—detailing the crew’s “more colorful calls.” He admits the blotter was rather dull, so he tried to spice it up. “Monday, May 26, the rescue unit responded to a nearby home where a heavily bearded individual in a ruffled pink dress lay unconscious on the kitchen floor due to a diabetic coma.” While true, the editors and squad superiors wouldn’t accept his more colorful accounts!
Fun!RECRUITMENT SAVVY. The author was named “Membership Chairman” (the title “sounded like a frumpy, elderly woman in a gigantic, flowered straw hat”) so he changed the title to “Recruitment Officer” (without getting permission!).
His unique approach in recruiting other students to consider joining the rescue squad is textbook savvy. Like a
Peter Drucker disciple, he analyzed his potential customers and zeroed in on them. “So we had to find these rare birds on campus, probably by looking at their scars, vehicles, or colorful hobbies, and share heart-pounding and bonding experiences with them, in between their signing up for the ECA class and trying out for the squad.” Each crew member took the ECA (Emergency Care Attendant) class—a semester course required to work on the ambulance.
Note: My camp and conference colleagues, members of CCCA, will find stunning parallels to their current challenges of recruiting college students for summer camp positions. Must-read!MEMORABLE WRITING. You’d expect an Emmy award winning writer to turn a phrase or two—but every chapter surprises with eye-catching and soul-catching one liners.
• The elderly man—cheerful—but in need of help. Treece writes,
“..he had an expression on his face, like he was seeing a beautiful place we could not. Like his spiritual luggage was packed and ready to go—right now.” • The elderly patient when asked why she called for help, “I’m not sure what’s wrong. Maybe I just had a bit too much creamed corn with lunch.”
• The five myths of ambulances, sirens, and inattentive vehicles on the road. Treece colorfully describes
The Guy in the Knit Hat, “driving an ancient coupe”—bopping along with earphones and a Walkman (illegal, by the way).
Myth #4: “Everyone who hears a siren pulls to the right. Ha ha! Oh boy! I love this one. No.” The author’s perfect label for The Guy: “Oh boy. Future customer.”
• The chapter describing the love and care that EMTs often provide and how it is sometimes reciprocated—“Even EMTs need a little love.”
• And the lonely 80s-something woman who would call in on those dark Vermont winter evenings—and the crew would arrive, cheerfully, and just hold her hand. Treece notes,
“What you do to the least of my brethren, you do unto me.” • Treece’s “theology of the ambulance”—important and insightful.
• Why the author needed “an upper room”—and why you need one also.
DEEP CAMARADERIE. Poignant! Up until now, you’d find the best example of teamwork in the bestseller,
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, by Daniel James Brown (
read my review). However, I have a new winner! Read Chapter 25, “The Warm Hood of the Rig.” You’ll yearn for a team that embodies what Chris Treece reminisces about.
“I miss the camaraderie. That sounds cliché, but I mean deep camaraderie, the kind that is based on seeing the absolute worst that life has to offer and facing it together as a team.” He adds, “I miss being part of an organization of people who loved me, supported me and knew me better than anyone else on the planet—even my parents, who could never really bring themselves to ask me for details of what I did on the rig.”
The author also notes what he does
not miss about those long nights, sleep deprivation, and more.
Who should read this book? • My Christian camp and conference center colleagues and rescue mission team members. (Must-read!)
• Team leaders and train-the-trainers
• Thoughtful leaders and readers (you’ll have a new appreciation for first responders)
• Anyone who wants to be better prepared for emergencies (first aid, Heimlich maneuver, and more). Note: Treece was trained by, and worked alongside, Michael O'Keefe, the co-author of
Emergency Care (the classic EMT textbook).
To be clear—this really was a FUN book to read—but the insights and wisdom were a special bonus. This is a spectacular book. I bought three copies of
Crazy Ambulance Tales to give to first responders, including my local fire department team in San Clemente. They recently aided my neighbor who had fallen, sadly, on his 89th birthday. I was so impressed with our EMTs—and so grateful.
To order from Amazon, click on title for
Crazy Ambulance Tales, by Chris Treece.
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:1) Here’s a great exercise for your team. Chris Treece chronicles two areas: What he learned going
in to this opportunity—and what he learned going
out (four years later). He writes, “I went on the rig believing in God. I came off the rig believing in God and the power of goodness, but also the power of evil.” (This reminded me of Daniel Henninger’s
recent WSJ column when he writes, “Putin’s war is forcing a re-evaluation of evil in the world and our response to it.”)
What did you learn in an earlier position—going in and going out?2) Oh, my. Chapter 24, “Maple Farm Road,” describes—some years later—Treece bringing his wife back to Vermont and to the tragic scenes he experienced on Maple Farm Road—events which still plagued the author. At that sad location, his wife, Helen, took his hand and prayed—for the families who lost loved ones and for her husband, Chris—that the dark spirits and nightmares would vanish. And this is stunning:
“…they never came back.” Have you had a spiritual encounter that took your breath away?
The Program Bucket standard: “We research and understand our customer before launching new programs.”Buckets Countdown:
The Program Bucket (#6) Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook: Management Tools, Templates and Tips from John Pearson, with commentary by Jason Pearson (2nd Edition, 2018) - Order from Amazon.
The Program Bucket Core Competency: “We are zealots for program effectiveness and so we research and understand our customer before launching new programs, products or services. We measure program results. We feed our primary programs and drop the losers—all in the spirit of discerning where God is at work.”
Top 10 Questions to Ask About Program Capacity and Sustainability. Download this worksheet (PDF) from the Program Bucket and identify the three most important questions for your organization. (Suggestion: Read Luke 14:28-30 in The Message.)
The 20 management buckets are perfect content for the lifelong learning segment in your weekly staff meetings (you do have weekly staff meetings, right?). Visit the 20 buckets webpage here. For more, visit the Program Bucket here.
For supplementary resources, click on John's "Bucket" book and workbook below:
JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Knock! Knock! The media is here! Is your team prepared for PR emergencies? Have you conducted Crisis Bucket practice drills so you know what to say—and who can and cannot say it? We can help you practice.Contact Pearpod Media (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
