A Thousand Naked Strangers: A Paramedic's Wild Ride to the Edge and Back

Kevin Hazzard spent a decade as an EMT and paramedic, and in this memoir he shares the entire course of that career with us, from unfocused newbie to burned-out veteran. It's a job I've always wondered about but was pretty ignorant of, right down to not knowing the difference between a paramedic and an EMT, or what kind of training either of them gets. Well, now I know, and while it's clear you can never fully understand what the job is like without doing it, I feel like I've gotten an interesting glimpse inside it.

Mostly, I was expecting to hear some interestingly gruesome stories, and there certainly are some of those. I don't necessarily recommend reading this book while eating. More disturbing, though, than any of the gory or show more violent anecdotes, are the reminders of just how human the people we rely on to keep us alive when the worst happens to us are. They are, after all, just guys doing a job, and, as in every workplace, there are always goof-offs, and people who aren't as fully trained as they're supposed to be, and people having an off day. Even the good ones are, like most of us, just muddling along trying to do their jobs and get through the day (or, as the case may be, the night).

Hazzard is very forthright, as well, about his own thoughts and attitudes, strengths and flaws, the times when he's been too cocky or too indifferent. I suspect he's not the sort of person I'd enjoy hanging around with in real life. He's a bit too much of an adrenaline junkie, with a sense of humor that runs to dumb stunts, a jock to my nerd. But I did appreciate the honesty of his self-evaluation, and was glad to have the chance to spend a little while inside both his ambulance and his head. show less

An interesting memoir by an EMT (later medic) that does a really good job of showing both the craziness and the humanity of both patients and caregivers. EMS attracts a broad range of people - just like every other position in the medical field - but it has a lower barrier to entry then other medical jobs so you get a really broad range. Having worked in various medical jobs, a lot of this really resonated with me. Sometimes you're absolutely at the top of your game, sometimes you're just hoping to get through the shift without making a mistake. There's a few bits in here that are not for the squeamish, but on the whole it's kept fairly clean.

I was disappointed in this book. I had hoped for something with more heart. I really enjoyed Population 485 by Michael Perry and was anticipating something like it. Kevin Hazzard is in Atlanta, a huge city, so of course his experience would be different. I felt let down by the cavalier attitude and the sophomoric antics he got up to. His patients seemed more like slabs of meat. His interest in the job had to do with the excitement. He even stated that it didn't matter to him whether the patient lived. Once when his lax attitude caused a patient to die, he was able to revive him. This raising of a man from the dead went immediately to his head and he started ignoring protocols and superiors. I found it frightening to think that one's show more life might be intrusted to someone so callus. I'm sure that such a difficult job would cause one to harden oneself in self defense. However Mr Hazzard seemed pretty hard to start with. It did sound like he came to be quite competent. That at least was reassuring. show less

This was a fast read, with some genuinely interesting and harrowing descriptions of what life is really like when riding in an ambulance for a living. I was intrigued by the amazing and sometimes surreal things Hazzard saw on the job, and I found myself quickly flipping pages to see what happened next. Unfortunately, I was less enamoured with the overall depressing look at life as an EMT and paramedic. I guess I was hoping for a more upbeat ending, rather than a descent into slow burnout. I’m sure it’s realistic, but I grew less and less interested in the author’s experiences as he became disillusioned and depressed with the job as a whole. The book was described as “funny”, but I walked away after turning the last page show more feeling morose and despondent. I did, however, also find a new appreciation for the amazing people who do this very tough job day in and day out. show less

Kevin Hazzard decided after 9/11 to leave his career in journalism and enter EMT school. In total, he spent some nine years working as an EMT and paramedic in Fulton County, Georgia, and the city of Atlanta. The book chronicles Hazzard's adventures and experiences in an ambulance, recounting a large number of the calls he ran and also reflecting on his own continually-changing attitude toward the profession.

I realized recently that, though I typically really like medical memoirs, more or less the only ones I'd read were written by doctors, and I was interested in getting a broader look at the medical professions. This book definitely delivered on that, and I found it really interesting to read about what EMTs do. (Did you know that an show more EMT is not the same thing as a paramedic? I did not, but apparently paramedics are a special type of EMT with fairly substantial further medical training on e.g. using medications and intubating.) I listened to the audiobook and thought that it was really well-done.

Do be warned, though, that this book has some pretty graphic descriptions of the scenes that Hazzard encountered that were really just at the edge of what I could tolerate. There are also some lengthy descriptions suicide attempts that could be too much for some potential readers. show less

This is a memoir of the author's life as an EMT/paramedic (They are different--an EMT requires 8 months of training; a paramedic requires 18 additional months of training for certification). He discusses how he chose this profession, the training required, and his initial job as an EMT for a private ambulance company which mostly transported nursing home patients and wasn't too picky about its employees or billing Medicaid. Later he obtained a position with the ambulance service for a large trauma hospital in Atlanta, and along the way went back to get additional training to become a paramedic. The book is episodic, with each chapter centered on a call or event.

The Good: This was an interesting look at a paramedic's job. These people show more seem to handle everything that comes at them calmly and professionally, and they never seem to lose their cool with difficult people, i.e. drunks and psychotics. He told dozens of stories, but it was never repetitious and I was never bored.

The Bad: Some of the descriptions of gore were pretty graphic, and I got the feeling that the author was sometimes almost relishing, or at least pretty nonchalant about, all the gore.

I will say he has a pretty good name for a paramedic, no? (Hazzard)

Recommended

3 stars show less

A Thousand Naked Strangers: A Paramedic’s Wild Ride to the Edge and Back promises a multitude of crazy, insane stories about life in an ambulance.
Does it deliver? I think not.
Even with a few gems throughout the chapters, a huge majority seems like more of a reflection piece by Hazzard. Really, just a pity party.
Maybe I just had too high of expectations, with the title and knowing people in similar fields, but I wanted more of the crazy accidents, bonkers patients, and just “what the hell” moments.
The stories seem like they would just be better being told in person, maybe around a table, few close friends, having a laugh at the crazy thing called life.
With that, I can see how people would love this. Parts can be witty, a few show more stories did strike me as hilarious, and Hazzard is a great writer. It just is not for me. show less