Who is HM?

email – theHappyMedic@gmail.com

Twitter – @thehappymedic

the Happy Medic is an active duty Firefighter/Paramedic with one of the Nation’s busiest Fire Departments in San Francisco, California.  The dispatches in these pages are gathered from not only my own experiences as a Fire Explorer, EMT, Firefighter and Paramedic in Rural, Suburban and Urban settings, but from my co-workers, colleagues and teachers.  If you think I’ve treated you and you see yourself in these pages, keep in mind my current service responds to over 110,000 calls for service each year and I’ve been doing this half my life.  Do the math, it wasn’t you.

Since HIPAA is extremely specific about what is covered under the privacy rules, we will never divulge a client’s name, age, date of birth, address or social security number, nor will we post photos or likenesses of said clients.

My employer does not endorse this forum, that is not my issued helmet, that is not my issued coat.  That is also not my issued smile, I got that on the open market as well.

The format here is often a dispatch to a reported emergency where I’ll give you the Emergency and then our Action.  Most times these posts are as a result of me asking “You called 911…for this?”

Also in these pages you will find tips and tricks, weekly questions to challenge your decision making in our regular You Make the Call Series and a bit of levity with a Sunday Fun segment, often getting out of the firehouse for a spell and shaking our legs.

You can keep track of the adventures of the Happy Medic right here in FireEMSblogs and on Facebook and Twitter, just search for me, the Happy Medic, and look for the cartoon there in the lists.

Wondering what I mean in some posts?  Check the Glossary of Terms.

the Happy Medic is, and always has been, Justin Schorr, a Firefighter/Paramedic currently employed with the San Francisco Fire Department.

That’s me with the patches-Photo Credit SF Chronicle.

I hold a Bachelor’s of Science in Emergency Medical Services from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine where I studied under Larry Cobb and Rick Lynn, to name a few.  I was one of the first 10 graduates of the BS in EMS (no giggling) program there and was one of 4 to first stand within the School of Medicine group to graduate (God they hated that!)

My career started as a Fire Explorer, then as a volunteer firefighter getting hired at 18 with a small Indian Reservation outside Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Talk about rural EMS.

I later moved on to a small suburban department struggling to find it’s identity with a strong Public Safety model that relied on fire trained police officers to assist when emergencies struck.  It was there that I learned the best way to confirm a house has been ventilated prior to forcing the door is to do it yourself.

Now I find myself in beautiful San Francisco and raising my family.

See you at the big one,

HM