Erik: [00:00:00] But this, this ambulance though is the oldest licensed ambulance in the U. S.

Narrator: You are listening to E. M. S. With your hosts, Erik Axene and Matt Ball.

Matt: Yeah, you're so excited. Every time we bring up this topic.

Erik: I'm giddy like a school boy.

Matt: You know, what movie is that from? Giddy like a [00:00:30] schoolgirl. Dumb and dumber. Yeah. That's

Erik: going to go through the whole line.

Matt: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you are super excited.

I mean, I'm excited too, but this is like your brain child and you're excited.

Erik: Let me tell you where it all started.

Matt: All right. Come on.

Erik: We started with you and me because our philosophy of making learning fun, we look for engaging. Crazy things to do, whether we're filming an open in a hangar with a bunch of airplanes

Matt: blowing up christmas balls.

Erik: We should do the Christmas balls.

Matt: We should do the Christmas balls.

Erik: Uh, man, we could do a whole podcast on that. That is so [00:01:00] much. The chemistry is so cool. Anyway. So our philosophy in making learning fun is finding these engaging experiences. And it brings the education to life. It doesn't have to correlate.

It just gets your attention. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, you're on the edge of your seat kind of thing. So I was in Los Angeles and I was meeting with a friend of mine. His name's Jeff. He's a he's an ER doctor Okay, and he owns an ambulance company and I won't share details because I don't know [00:01:30] if you want to know that but Anyway, don't give too much away But I don't think you'd care but just to be respectful to him.

I'll keep him anonymous, but good friend of mine and He owns an ambulance company and he also owns An old ambulance. It's actually the oldest licensed ambulance in the country.

Matt: What year?

Erik: 1963, I think. Uh, I could be wrong on the year a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's a Cadillac, an old [00:02:00] Cadillac ambulance.

Matt: So it's like a Hearst style.

Erik: Yeah, in 1977 they changed the rules. And so they couldn't use those Hearst style. Cadillacs as ambulances anymore and other companies made them too

Matt: because they were just killing people in the back

Erik: I don't know that they were but but they they changed the rules and the height Minimums and anyway point is but this this ambulance though is the oldest licensed ambulance In in the US. And that's that's part [00:02:30] of what we're gonna do and we are going to set Maybe two but at least one world record

Matt: Okay. And like official Guinness Book of World Record

Erik: We've been in communication with Guinness. Um, and, uh, making sure that we understand all the rules and, and so, um, what it looks like, what we have planned is we're going to break the record, the world record for the longest ground EMS transport in EMS history.

And we're going to break that [00:03:00] record by almost a thousand miles.

Matt: What was the last one?

Erik: I think the last one was 2,400 miles and we're going 30, 30, well right now the projected path would be 3,329 miles.

Matt: Do we want to share the path or no, not yet?

Erik: Not yet, because that's something we actually talk about.

Yeah, that's true. Because I've talked to, uh, we just talked to one of our Potential clients for ACE, and they invited us to stay at their station and to sleep there, and they'll wash our ambulance.

Matt: That [00:03:30] would be cool.

Erik: And, uh, and so, it would be really fun to do that. It'd also decrease some of the cost too.

Sure. And, and, and increase the fun, I think. Yeah, oh, for

sure.

Um, but if we do that, you know, then, then the, the, the trek looks like this and then instead of 3,300 miles, it's 7,000 miles instead of a week, it's two weeks or whatever. So my thought was what I think we'll end up doing, and we may actually take these people up on the invitation, but I think what we'll [00:04:00] probably do is to plan our trek.

And if we do take that tentative path of the 3,329 mile path from San Diego to Bangor, Maine,

Matt: you just told them.

Erik: Oh, I did. Shoot.

Matt: Cat's out of the bag now. But that's not the for sure path. Because we also talked about Florida to Seattle.

We did. So

that's not the for sure path.

Erik: Not the for sure path. But the ambulance does live in Los Angeles.

Matt: Yeah, but you [00:04:30] could drive to Seattle. Seattle to Key West would be a cool route.

Erik: We could still break the record from Los Angeles and go to New York. I mean, there's lots of things we could do. Yeah. Um, but once, if we do take that tentative path, what my thought was is that we will look at the path and, and see the stations about every 500 miles and then call them up and see if they'd be willing to participate, um, um, and, and, uh, to have a stop at their stations.

Yeah. Um, along the way [00:05:00] we'll be filming content. Mm-hmm . Um, so we'll be working mm-hmm . But the work we do, it's not work. I wanna have fun, I just wanna go and have work. To me, work is fun, and fun is work. So, so we'll, um, we'll be putting together, uh, a video series, which I won't release yet. Right. But it is.

Matt: It's going to be a bundle.

Erik: It's going to be a bundle of content with a certain theme. And the theme, I really believe, is so applicable now. It's just the perfect thing for today. And it is going to [00:05:30] be a lot of fun. And it's going to be really valuable and useful to departments all over the country.

They're going to, people are going to want it. It's going to, it's going to blow you away. And so you and I will film the content for this bundle as we go through our world record attempt. Some of them might be filmed on the side of the road or at a fire station.

Matt: Oceanside, mountainside, sunrise, sunset, Forrest Gump. Oh, we gotta do Forrest Gump Highway. We gotta hit that.

Erik: I didn't even know there was a Forrest Gump Highway.

Matt: Oh yeah, in Utah. It's [00:06:00] Gods. Or not the Garden of the Gods, the Valley of the Gods. Oh really? Oh yeah, there's a spot right where you can stop. I've been on it. 2019, we took a road trip. And everybody stops there.

It's right at the stop and runs where everybody gets out and they take their picture there. And then I think I'll go home now that that whole scene.

Erik: I can see it in my head right now.

Matt: There is a that is an actual and everybody calls it the Forrest Gump stop or whatever. But yeah,

Erik: that's pretty cool.

Matt: We're gonna have to do that now. That's on the list.

Erik: So I think that the, the world record attempt, um, [00:06:30] however we do it, um, is it's going to be exciting and fun. And, and we're going to take a lot of our team with us. Yeah. Not everybody. We don't have a vehicle big enough, but we'll take a lot of our team with us.

And then we're going to film that along the way. Just actually, we're going to, uh, we'll probably be filming three cameras all the time to catch. Everything. Footage. Yeah.

Matt: And we're going to have to, do we want to give details about like, [00:07:00] how does this work with Guinness? As far as.

Erik: Yes. Good question. Yeah.

Matt: How many details do we want to give away here?

Erik: Uh, well, some of it's still tentative, so I think I'll keep it ambiguous for now.

Matt: Yeah. But, uh. But I, I guess we'll, like, there has to be, it actually has to be a trans. It has to be a patient. Yeah. There actually has to be a real patient. It has to be. actually have a patient.

That's what I'm saying.

Erik: Yeah. It's going to be an actual injury.

Matt: Yes. It's not just driving an ambulance from here to there. It's, it's an actual to meet the world record standard.

Yes.

It has to be [00:07:30] providers along with an actual patient.

Erik: And from what we can tell right now, it looks like, uh, it doesn't have to be a paramedic.

It could be because you're going to be there, but it can also be a physician and a paramedic.

So, uh, and uh, one of the other guys, so we'll have two ER doctors there with us, um, we'll have, um, it sounds like potentially two firefighters, paramedics, at least, at least one, and Adam was a former paramedic, firefighter, he's a PA now, and Nate,

Matt: [00:08:00] and a genius, two geniuses.

Erik: So we have, um, we're going to have a great group, uh, and um. Uh, but as far as Guinness is concerned, uh, an actual patient with an actual complaint, an actual registered

ambulance,

registered ambulance transported to a hospital for, for definitive care.

Yeah.

And that'll take place somewhere on the East Coast.

Yeah. And, uh, tentatively Bangor, Maine, but whatever. And,

Matt: but we haven't figured out the route yet.

Erik: No, we got to get the details [00:08:30] down, but it, but it's, it's going to be a blast and, uh,

Matt: filming along the way for different videos. Yeah. All kinds of stuff.

Erik: Podcasts along the way?

Matt: Podcasts along the way, yes.

Erik: Pretty informal, uh, but, but it's gonna be fun, it's gonna be raw.

Yeah.

And, uh, you know, I, I imagine that in the 3, 500 miles or whatever it is, um, Something funny will happen. Something's gonna go wrong. Something's, we're gonna have adventures we can't even, you know, predict. Blow a tire. Something like that, I'm sure.

And that's part of the reason why I'm hoping Danny could come. [00:09:00] Because that guy can fix anything.

Matt: And he can pick it up and put it on the jacks. We don't need a farm jack.

Erik: For anybody that doesn't know, we have a colleague, uh, Danny. He's just like a great guy. How tall is he? 8 feet 11? Something like that.

I'm kidding. I'm kidding. He's like super tall. Yeah, he's a big dude. His, his biceps are as big as my waist. Correct. Yes. And, uh,

Matt: He is a, he's a Greek God.

Erik: Yeah, it's like, every time we tell the story, he gets bigger. And, uh, It's like a William Wallace. The cool story we should tell, I don't think Danny would mind if we told the [00:09:30] story.

I don't think so.

But, uh,

well, obviously, a gifted athlete, too. I mean, he, uh, drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays, I think. I can't remember. Something like that. He could tell you.

Matt: Colorado Rockies. Wasn't it the Rockies? No.

Erik: You know what? I don't know.

Matt: He played in college. The guy's just a stud.

Erik: He got drafted by the majors.

Matt: Yeah, he's just a stud. Makes me sick.

Erik: We had a

Matt: And he's got a, well, yeah. He's got a great mustache, too. I shaved mine. But he's got a

Erik: Yeah, he does. Uh, anyway, he, I watched him play baseball with the, uh, the, the police versus the fire department in our town. Um, yeah. And, uh, he got up [00:10:00] there and, and I think that ball's still in orbit right now.

Matt: It's We'll, we'll pick it up in Bangor, Maine.

Erik: Um, but anyway, so quick story though with Dan and I think one of the reasons it'd be good to have him. Um, Uh, is that, uh, super, remember that story when we had that meeting and he called us and what he says, Hey guys, I'm late. His truck broke down. He told me the story or something or alternator or something went out

and it was something. It's not like you're just changing a fan belt or you're not [00:10:30] just changing the oil or a

Matt: changing out a part. You had to troubleshoot it first.

He had on the side of the road.

Erik: I think it was something where he had to actually get into the engine on the side of the road. I think he, I think he had flagged somebody down and they took him to an auto parts store.

He knew what he needed. He got it, came back, fixed his truck on the side of the road.

Matt: And still made the meeting.

Erik: And still made the meeting.

Matt: Yeah, he is very, he's very handy. And he's fun to have around.

Erik: I could think, I mean, when we do have a problem, I could see that guy fixing it for us. [00:11:00] Oh, for sure. You know, we'll all be sitting in the, in the RV.

Oh, and that's the other thing, we're going to have a chase vehicle.

Matt: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Erik: An RV.

Matt: Yeah, I don't think all of us are going to fit in that little ambulance.

Erik: No, no. So, uh, in the RV, uh, we'll, um, be sipping lemonade and hanging out while he's out in the heat fixing this. I'm just kidding.

Matt: Watching him sweat fixing it in Death Valley.

Erik: You know what's going to be really neat though, I'm excited about this, is for people to get to know Devin. Because Devin's usually behind the camera.

Matt: Yeah.

Erik: And people don't get to meet him. [00:11:30] He's a huge part of our team.

Matt: He is a huge part

Erik: of our team. And it's like, he does all this work, no praise. You know.

He's the

Matt: one that makes us look good. Yeah. And sound good. Well, you look good. And all the other things.

Erik: There's nothing you can do here. I mean. Yeah.

Matt: No, yeah. No, Devin is the man. He is, he is our IT guru. He is. Yeah.

Erik: You know, he's a, I would say far more

Matt: than a cameraman.

Erik: We do have an amazing team at ACC. I mean, everybody is amazing at what they do.

And I would say one of Devin's expertise along with film production [00:12:00] and all the stuff he does with the cameras, lighting, audio, all that stuff is problem solver.

Matt: Oh yeah. Anything to do with internet or, I mean, yeah, all this stuff that, well today we just went over stuff today. He figured out a huge problem, not problem, but he, Figured out a way to

Erik: do it was a problem and he fixed it and he found a way around it.

Yes So it's not a problem.

Matt: Exactly. Yes. And yeah, exactly.

Erik: He is a genius but but I think that's one thing of the 100 things i'm looking forward to one of them is that we're bringing in [00:12:30] our film crew with other cameras Um, filming him filming us.

Matt: Yes.

Erik: So, cause a lot of the banter is between Devin and I, and Devin and you, and all of us, John, and, and all the whole team.

Matt: Yeah.

Erik: But now, Devin will be filmed, involved in the banter. Which, I think that's gonna be a special thing.

Matt: Yeah. Kind of a behind the scenes view. That'll be good.

Erik: But, uh, I think the other thing I'm super excited about, now this is totally unofficial. Um, and I don't even think [00:13:00] you and I have had an opportunity to talk about this.

Matt: Oh.

Erik: Because this just came up recently.

Matt: Okay.

Erik: Um, is that, um, we're, Devin, we've talked, um, about turning this into an actual documentary.

Matt: Oh, yeah.

Erik: We did. Okay. And so with all the film footage, uh, I think this, this is how it was,

Matt: uh, like a, how to break a world record.

Erik: Yeah. Yeah. So we'll start at the very beginning with our conversations with, with Guinness and then, uh, and you know, wherever we start to wherever we [00:13:30] finish breaking the record, uh, and, uh, all the fun we have in between, uh, and all the learning we do, uh, the podcast we film, it is, yeah.

Going to be an adventure. That's going to be good.

Matt: And

Erik: unpredictably so.

Matt: Yeah, well that's the beauty of it. Is that it'll be unpredictable. Now we have topics that we're going to go over.

Erik: Yep.

Matt: Um, during that road trip. But yeah, the unpredictability of, I mean our patient might crash on us.

Erik: You never

Matt: know. We don't know.

Erik: And then we're

Matt: going to have a long way to drive. Then we might have to divert to a [00:14:00] closer facility.

Erik: I think, uh, I think the excitement of it, the adventure of it, uh, I, the cool part too is, is to be able to share it with our students and to experience pieces of it. I think it's, it's, it's going to be, uh, it's going to really be a lot of fun.

Matt: And the topics that we're going to go over are super important. They're going to be, um, It's just going to be really good topics of information, stuff that people are going to want to know. Sometimes people, [00:14:30] stuff that people are, yeah, need and there's a little, maybe a scared of.

Erik: You won't want to miss

Matt: it.

No, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. Be from, from an admin perspective and a provider perspective, it's going to be stuff that people are going to want to, uh, get those classes. And then on top of it, it's going to be a fun and engaging class. It's not just going to be a. Oh yeah. Death by

Erik: PowerPoint. No it won't be.

Yeah, it'll be

Matt: great. It'll be really, really good. Who knows we're going to

Erik: be filming these segments. I mean, one of the segments at the Grand Canyon potentially, or Niagara Falls. The world's

Matt: [00:15:00] largest ball of humor. Yes, exactly. I can't wait to

Erik: go there. I've been dying to go there. No, it's funny when you, as you're talking, I was thinking to myself, you know, as we've developed our content for Ace, all the hundreds of hours of stuff we've done, um, it's, I'm amazed that we never thought to do this.

I mean, this is such an important We've done

Matt: other things. We've done rattlesnake roundups and sharks. Oh, no.

Erik: I guess what I'm talking about is the content, though. Oh, yes. Because to me, it's like, how in the world have we gone this far down the road and not [00:15:30] done this? Well,

Matt: we've done elements of it.

Erik: We have done one element of it.

But not like this. Yeah. One of seven. Yes. We're planning a seven hour bundle and one of the seven we've done. But I think we're going to do it better, improve it. Some content will be the same, but we're going to redo it and make it better. And, and you're right. So components of it we've done. And I think components of everything we've kind of even touched on.

Yeah. Like, but we've never focused on it. Like we're about to do, and this is the kind of bundle. [00:16:00] You don't want to miss. I don't care if you're brand new, if you're an experienced paramedic, if you're a chief, a city manager, I mean, these, this. An ambulance,

Matt: a private ambulance owner. Yes. Yeah,

Erik: you don't need to, you don't need CEs to want to watch this.

Matt: Yeah.

Erik: All players are going to be interested in this. Yes, for sure. I'm pretty excited about that. And you and I are going to just knock it out of the park and make it fun.

Matt: Yeah, it's going to be fun. Fun to watch, fun to film, fun to do. The whole thing is going to be a lot of fun.

Erik: Yeah. [00:16:30] And, um, back, I want to touch a little bit on some of our plans, you know, stopping along the way, being able to film departments along the way, um, you know, with their permission, of course, and to get them on camera and see, uh, different stations all literally across the country.

That's going to be a fun experience on

Matt: meeting new people. Yeah, exactly. That'd be, yep. Eating with,

Erik: eating with other stations and experience a little bit of life with each station as well. You know, along [00:17:00] the way.

Matt: Interesting to see how different stations do different things, you know, I think for the most part, most firemen are firefighters or firefighters.

Oh yeah. That's what I've noticed. In fact, it

Erik: was, was out, uh, Uh, in the California area, talking to a fire station, they were expressing their frustrations about something. Uh, two days ago, I was doing some CEs in a department out here in the DFW area, and the same conversation came up, and I felt like I was deja vu.

I mean, it's just, in, in, in, literally, in the kitchen, at the table, [00:17:30] uh, and it could have been the same. I mean, it, it was, it was eerie. It's

Matt: so eerie that I've been teaching, and this is kind of off topic, but I've been teaching live at other fire departments and I can sit in that room and go and identify guys from that department that are exactly like guys in my department.

Be like, that guy's like this guy, that person's like this person. So I mean, yeah, it's, uh, it's, it's interesting to see how firemen are very similar in a lot of ways. Yeah.

Erik: One of the things I [00:18:00] like to do, um, in fact, just a couple of days ago I was teaching at this department and I start out with a competition.

And, uh, we'll, we'll, uh, and the guys just having, and girls too, having a great time competing against one another, and I kind of facilitate things, and, and then we come up with a winner, and then, uh, and then when we do the, the, the lecture. I know you had a good prize. This is the hug from the medical director.

Oh, okay.

Matt: Well,

Erik: that's

Matt: fair.

Erik: People like, I'm kidding, we didn't. I have handed out [00:18:30] prizes before. I was going to say, you always

Matt: have some crazy prize you give out.

Erik: I didn't give out any prizes. I should have. But they were gracious, they weren't expecting it. But the cool part was when

Matt: you teach

Erik: later, Uh, the, the um, You know, for the guy, even if you lost, you like, you want to argue your point and how that wasn't fair and, and, and the guys are arguing and, you know, Hey, that's not fair.

Or this, this should be acceptable. And, and when in a CE, when it's death by PowerPoint, are [00:19:00] people doing that kind of thing? It's like, hold on a second. I don't agree with that point. I think this and this, and this is true. This is why I think they're just sitting there waiting for that back row on their phone.

Yeah. And if it's virtual C's, it's even worse. Oh, yeah. You get the, you get the logo during

Matt: COVID teaching lives or zoom live sees. And looking at a bunch of dudes in recliners all just nobody paying attention.

Erik: You know, we talked about the study that we published on, uh, you know, showing how our content delivery style is [00:19:30] more effective.

Um, I was in a station, which will remain nameless and, uh, with one of the arms of our study. Um, and, uh, like I told everybody that did, that was involved in our study, I said, I want you to engage in the CE process that we're about to start just like you normally would on any normal day. Yeah. And one of the guys stood up and walked away.

Matt: That's probably, that's probably that 30 year captain's like, I hate, [00:20:00] yeah. And, uh,

Erik: anyway, so what was funny is we were having a similar conversation, uh, later on. He just got up and walked

Matt: away. That's hilarious. Like

Erik: you said, like that same. sort of stereotypical guy. He did the same thing. It was so funny.

Uh, but, uh, but he got up and I think he would have really done that. And then, and so we joke, we laughed. He said, well, that's, that's Dr. X scene. That's what I do. That's what I would do. I just know what I do. I just press walk away or clean the kitchen or the whatever. [00:20:30] Um, but anyway, back, back to our world record attempt.

Uh, this, this is going to be a, uh, an epic adventure. It's going to be fun to share. Uh, I think you won't, you won't want to miss what we do. Uh, it's, it's going to be,

Matt: yeah, it's going to be good.

Erik: It's going to be really good. And it's going to be fun for, for us to, um, break a world record. I've never,

Matt: never attempted a world record

Erik: and there's a lot to it at the beginning, just making sure you follow the rules.

Matt: Oh yeah, I'm sure. All the documentation and all the stuff. Well the good thing is we'll have multiple [00:21:00] cameramen so we'll be videoing everything.

Erik: True.

Matt: We'll have video documented proof.

Erik: Yeah, and we've checked everything out so far. Everything looks like it's on the up and up. I mean, we're with Guinness so I think we're gonna be good to go.

Good to go.

Matt: That's exciting.

Erik: It is exciting. And, um, is there any other part of this adventure that, uh I think

Matt: so. I think we've touched on all of it. The content and what potentially we're doing. A lot of the details still have to be figured out. But we're going to be doing this relatively quick, [00:21:30] depending on when this comes out.

We're

Erik: hoping to get this thing going soon. Yeah. In

Matt: the next couple months. Yeah. A lot of planning that'll go into it. A lot

Erik: of planning. A lot of things to get figured out, but we're so excited about it. We wanted to at least introduce the concept on the podcast so you

Matt: be on the lookout for it. Yeah. And then we're going to do a followup podcast.

After we do this, we will do a followup podcast. Talk candidly about our, who knows. World record experience.

Erik: Oh yeah. You know, I was talking to Devin about it and we may not make it.

Matt: Why [00:22:00] not? I mean, what if

Erik: the ambulance, I guess the ambulance could break

Matt: down. Yeah. We got, we got a Danny.

Erik: Yeah, we got a Danny.

I don't know. Even Danny can fix a blown engine. I mean, we could, we could encounter some problems that Oh yeah. And may make it impossible. Unforeseen

Matt: problems. That's, you never know. A bear could jump out and kill one. It is an old ambulance. Yeah. A very old ambulance. Who's dri? Well then we're gonna, I guess we'll rotate driving.

Erik: Can I turn the

Matt: sirens on?

Erik: Absolutely. Everything works. I guess it has to. I started it, and we turn the lights on. Everything [00:22:30] works. I'm

Matt: picturing the Ghostbusters mobile. That's what I'm picturing.

Erik: Something else we need to talk about is that we can't go into details of who's sponsoring us, but we've got some sponsors.

And once it's official, we can share who they are. They've been super generous to help us help subsidize some of the costs for this. And, and obviously we're going to be able to play some really great products and, and talk about them and share some of the, some of the [00:23:00] things in the industry right now. Um, and then, uh, um, also be able to partner with some other non EMS agencies that are interested in us.

Matt: Yeah.

Erik: Uh, it's going to be really kind of fun. I, that, that's, that's something I hadn't anticipated. Honestly, when we started thinking about this, I was thinking to myself, okay, this is going to cost a lot of money. And I never thought to subsidize. It was Devin actually that suggested it in the meeting. He said, you should get sponsors.

Matt: Yeah.

Erik: So anyway, so that, that was good [00:23:30] and I think that's going to make this even more fun.

Matt: Yeah. Yeah. That's very cool. I'm excited.

Erik: Yeah. It's going to be good. It's going to be good.

Matt: A lot of planning, but.

Erik: Yeah. A lot of planning and, and more to come. More to come. And we'll do a post, uh, world record. Uh, I'm hoping to hold a plaque here.

That would be

Matt: really cool.

Erik: Post world record. Open up the Guinness

Matt: book and find our names on there.

Erik: That would be so cool. I hadn't thought about that. That, I never thought about looking it up in the book.

Matt: Yeah.

Erik: But you're right, maybe we'll have our picture on there. Or [00:24:00] look it up

Matt: online.

Erik: Yeah.

Matt: Look it up on Google.

Erik: I imagine it'd be a picture of the ambulance. I don't think they're going to want to see our mugs.

Matt: Oh no, we're in it. All of us are going to be in it. Standing next to the ambulance. Yeah,

Erik: I like

Matt: it. Caring our patient. I like your vision of it, that's good. Well. We'll see you on the next one. It's gonna be exciting.

Narrator: Thank you for listening to EMS the Erik and Matt [00:24:30] show

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