Customer Reviews

Into the Breach: A Year of Life and Death with EMS

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

After reading the other reviews felt I had to write my own.

First of all this is life in Newark EMS, she showed you the worst parts, and left out the BS. Obviously an attempt to impress the reader. The writer does not understand that without the BS jobs, the men and women who are professional urban EMS providers would have no down time, no time to get away from the horror that is at times their jobs. The jobs she wrote about all happened but she didn't right the mundane that one of the other reviews mentioned.

Irreverant humor happens in all of the human services, cops joke about the bodies in a crime scene, fireman are the ones who coined the term crispy critter, doctors and nurses laugh while coding a patient. Yes it does insulate them, that is why they do it. Once again Karam neglected to write about the times that the men and women of Newark EMS held the hand of the dying patient, or broke down in tears because too many people died that week, she really didn't show the whole image of the men and women.

Yes some of the people she choose to highlight maybe aren't the most stable or healthy, maybe they drink too much, but they are in the minority. Karam spoke of a man who worked nights, and on his days off he would spend time fishing with his kids. She made him out to be abnormal in the world of Urban EMS. Again this is Karam trying to glorify being unstable because of the job. Most of the men and women who work there have stable healthy home lives. They are able to come home and turn work off, and enjoy being with their kids.

Regarding the views of University ER nurses in the books, no the nurses in the er are not uncaring unfeeling bitches. Yes many of EMS providers feel that they are. If you didn't love what you do you would not work in the ER or in the streets of Newark.

To sum it up, Karam gave you a glimpse of the job, but not a full representation.

I love to read books about real-life EMT's. This book was more like a history lesson on the Emergency Medical System. Boring! I don't want the hisoriography of the entire profession, any textbook can give me that! I want a close-up look at the lives of the men and women who work in the field. This book was fairly tedious and predictable. Nothing like some of the more exciting EMS books on the market. Be sure and read "Emergency!" which is much more interesting than "Into the Breach."

This is not Third Watch. Into the Breach a Year of Life and Death with EMS is a disturbing non-fiction descent into the world of the Emergency Medical Service in New Jersey. The author Jana Abrams Karam spent a year riding with New Jersey's EMS teams and her gripping stories from the streets of Newark bring to life the real and wrenching details of what it is like to be a member of the Emergency Medical Service in one of the poorest most violent cities in America. The author goes into great detail about the everyday reality of EMS where Paramedics and EMT's deal with shootings, suicides, child abuse, miscarriages, stabbings, and other horrifying scenes that are an everyday reality for the nations EMS workers. After reading this book I find Into the Breach is mandatory reading for everyone who wants to know the truth about life in the Emergency Medical Service.

Karam's new work is a gripping, action packed book which gives the reader a bit of insight into the unique world of big city EMS. Documenting a year in the life of legendary paramedics such as Walter Drivet and others, Into the Breach shows us the other side of life that so many haven't a clue about. As a Special Agent/Paramedic with a federal agency in the Newark area, I saw firsthand what these guys went through everyday, and can now re-live life on the edge via this book. It's only a matter of time before this book is made into a movie about the real life "Rescue Hero" Walter Drivet.

Jana Karam, with remarkable clarity, has captured what it means to be a paramedic and an EMT in Newark NJ. As one who has 20 years experience providng EMS in the City of Newark, first as a volunteer and later with UMDNJ EMS, I can atest that Jana has delivered to the reader 'an inside the lockerroom' and a 'down on the field' view of EMS in NJ's largest city.

It is a balanced, honest presentation of the good, the bad and the not so pretty life at UMDNJ EMS. Everybody knows about the police and fire departments. Read about the men and women who also do a job, a job people do not like to think or talk about. A job that makes even the cops and firemen say 'I could never do that...'

BUY THIS BOOK AND READ IT NOW. It is one of the best you will ever read.

I could not turn the pages fast enough. Karam's in-depth and well-researched material takes you on a journey that you do not want to end. Karam draws you into the lives of these urban EMS workers, and those they serve, and refuses to gloss over the brutal reality that takes place in our collective backyards everyday. A fascinating read and a story whose telling is long overdue!

Accurately describes the days of EMTs and Paramedics in New Jersey. When I got the book, I couldn't put it down. Shows improvements of EMS since the "Johnny and Roy" days of TV.

Wonderful description of the events of 9/11 that happened on their end.

The Cavalry Is Coming

I have worked professionaly as an EMTD in urban and suburban settings in three states. The majority of my carreer has been spent in Seattle, Wa. home to one of the first paramedic programs and arguably one of the best EMS systems in the world. The EMS that Karen writes about is not the EMS found in the rest of the country. The attitudes and childish behavior described is not a representation of me or anyone I have ever worked with in this field. We are humble. The majority of our work consists of merely holding a hand to comfort a patient on the way to the ER. We are not a fantastic bunch of premadonas running around pulling patients from the grasps of death. This book is an insult and a terrible read. If you want a realistic look inside EMS, get it from someone who has worked an entire carreer in a progressive and respected system. Not from an adrinaline junkie with a typwriter who has no idea what EMS is like anywhere else but Newark, New Jersay.

I bought "Into the Breach" on the recommendation of a co-worker who used to work at "The U". I enjoyed it as a "homer", but think that Karam could have done a lot more with the story to make it more appealing to those not familiar with the environment. There seemed to be a lot of loose ends, a lot of adjectives/adverbs used over an over again. Also, Karam paints a very negative picture of Emergency Nurses. I don't know if this is the result of a year of brainwashing by the blueshirts, that "skirts" are lazy, or don't understand, or what. But the author seems to go out of her way in several circumstances to make nurses seem uncaring, rude, and ignorant. If this is how ED Nurses in the Newark area act, then they should be ashamed of themselves, especially with the reputation that the EDs/Trauma Center in Newark have.

These are the words spoken by an air-evac nurse on page 187. She goes on to say that she had no idea what paramedics did. Scenes are uncontrolled chaos. There are police, family members, firemen, drunks, and a tremendous amount of noise to deal with. In all this you have to make split second decisions.

Having been there I can relate to what this nurse is saying. EMS is training. It's glorified. It's put down. It's hard work. It's too long hours. It's a lotta things I hate to talk about. Karam writes about them, the good and the bad. Not all of my experiences are the same as what she wrote about. Around here 12 hour shifts are rare there is no way that one could get a patient to the hospital every 30 minutes. But Karam wrote about Newark, NJ.

This job attracts people. Read Karam's book. The long hours and the relatively low pay can take a toll on your family life. Recently I had a paramedic tell me that he had not been home for eleven days. Any glory that there is in the job wears off the first time you get get called in on the carpet to explain something.

So if you read Karam's book, you'll get a taste of what it's like. And it's not just a year of life and death. It's a career.