Life and Sirens: On and Behind the Scenes

A full-length investigative storytelling episode examining how a quiet EMS call became a homicide case. Using real EMS documentation, medical examiner findings, and forensic timelines, this episode shows how one small detail—a cup of green liquid—prevented a murder from being buried as a “natural death.” This episode highlights the legal and clinical importance of EMS documentation and scene awareness.📝 Episode show notes: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/episode-guide/ems-true-crime-the-murder-of-david-castor-3p6g2🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

There’s a moment every EMS provider knows—the patient is sick, but not crashing, and you’re standing in that uncomfortable space between acting too soon and waiting too long.In this episode, we dive into one of the hardest skills to develop in prehospital medicine: knowing when to pull the trigger on a major intervention—and when riding it out is the safer call. We talk honestly about how experience shapes clinical intuition, why protocols don’t always give clear answers, and how high-acuity patients often deteriorate quietly before they fall apart.This conversation breaks down practical decision-making anchors for newer providers, including how to read trends instead of single numbers, recognize work of compensation, spot subtle mental status changes, and prepare early without committing too soon. We also explore common high-risk patient presentations where waiting rarely helps—and when restraint and reassessment are the right move.This episode isn’t about perfection or hindsight medicine. It’s about building judgment, trusting preparation, and learning to recognize the moment when waiting stops being safe.Because knowing how to do the intervention is only half the job—knowing when to say when is what turns skill into practice.🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

Episode 60: Bradycardia & Pacing — When Slow Becomes DangerousBradycardia isn’t always the problem—until it is.In this episode, we slow things down and take a clear, practical look at bradycardia and pacing in the field. Not just the algorithm, but the why behind it. We talk through how to recognize when a slow heart rate is actually compromising perfusion, when monitoring turns into intervention, and how to make confident decisions when the patient in front of you doesn’t fit the textbook.We break down symptomatic vs. asymptomatic bradycardia, common pitfalls in assessment, and why pacing isn’t a failure—it’s a bridge. We also talk honestly about the hesitation providers feel around pacing: fear of causing pain, uncertainty with equipment, and the pressure of making a high-stakes call when time feels compressed.This conversation goes beyond button-pushing. It’s about clinical judgment, physiology, communication with your patient and your partner, and understanding when atropine isn’t enough—or isn’t appropriate at all.We also reflect on how bradycardia calls have shaped our confidence as clinicians, the lessons learned from pacing that didn’t go smoothly, and how repetition, preparation, and culture influence whether we act decisively or hesitate.This episode is about recognizing instability early. Trusting your assessment. Using pacing as a tool—not a last resort. And showing up calmly when the heart rate drops and the room gets quiet.🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

If this year in EMS were a shift… what kind of shift was it?In this end-of-year reflection episode, we slow things down and take an honest look at what the year asked of us—as providers, leaders, and humans. From calls that changed how we practice medicine, to boundaries that finally held, to grief, growth, and quiet wins no one clapped for, this conversation is about taking inventory before moving forward.We talk about the lessons no class could teach, the parts of the job that felt heavier, how leadership and culture showed up (or didn’t), and what it really means to keep doing this work without losing yourself in it. We also check in on Life & Sirens—what surprised us, what resonated with listeners, and how having a platform has changed how we show up in EMS.This isn’t about resolutions. It’s about intention. What you’re carrying into the next year. What you’re finally setting down. And who you want to be when the tones drop again.🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

Leadership in EMS doesn’t start in an office—it starts in the truck.In this episode, we break down what real leadership looks like long before a title, badge, or admin role ever comes into play. From how you show up on shift and communicate with your partner, to how you handle stress, feedback, and ego, we explore the everyday behaviors that signal readiness for growth.We introduce the B.O.N.D. Method—Balance, Openness, Nurture, and Direction—as a practical framework for leadership at every level of EMS. We discuss why burnout isn’t a badge of honor, how openness builds culture, why nurturing others is a strength, and how clear direction creates trust instead of resentment.If you’re considering a supervisory or administrative role—or simply want to lead better where you are—this episode is about building credibility, influence, and professional maturity.Leadership isn’t something you’re promoted into. It’s something you practice long before anyone gives you a title.📝 Episode show notes: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/episode-guide/ep-58-stop-waiting-for-the-title-ems-leadership-starts-now🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

This Christmas special isn’t about miracles wrapped in bows—it’s about the quiet, complicated reality of working EMS on Christmas Eve.Told like a storybook and lived like real life, we walk through a night on the ambulance filled with familiar calls: a Santa who trusted a ladder too much, a lonely neighbor whose symptoms weren’t on a monitor, a peppermint candy cane gone rogue, and a call that silences a room and reminds us why this job never leaves you unchanged.This episode is for the medics working holidays, the families waiting at home, and anyone who’s ever wondered what Christmas looks like through the windshield of an ambulance.🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

CPAP and BiPAP often get lumped together in EMS—but they solve different problems. In Part 2 of this two-part series, we break down why these tools are siblings, not twins, and how choosing the right one starts with understanding what is actually failing in your patient.This episode focuses on the patients behind non-invasive ventilation. We address scenarios where your patient's condition may depend on your ability to choose appropriately between CPAP and BiPAP.By the end of Part 2, even a brand-new EMT will be able to explain why they chose CPAP or BiPAP—not just what they did.🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

CPAP and BiPAP often get lumped together in EMS—but they solve different problems. In Part 1 of this two-part series, we break down why these tools are siblings, not twins, and how choosing the right one starts with understanding what is actually failing in your patient.This episode focuses on the physiology and fundamentals behind non-invasive ventilation. We strip it down to the basics: breathing has two jobs—getting oxygen in and getting carbon dioxide out—and CPAP and BiPAP help with those jobs in very different ways.By the end of Part 1, even a brand-new EMT will be able to explain why they chose CPAP or BiPAP—not just what they did.🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

What if we told you there’s a number on your monitor that can predict ROSC, expose hidden shock, and even hint at metabolic acidosis before labs ever come back? In this high-energy deep dive, we break down ETCO₂ as the ultimate triad vital sign—reflecting ventilation, perfusion, and metabolism all at once—and show why it should guide your decision-making on nearly every call.Through real EMS scenarios, waveform breakdowns, case logic, and critical care pearls, we teach you how to read ETCO₂ like a story instead of just a number. You’ll walk away confident knowing exactly what rising, dropping, or oddly shaped waveforms really mean for your patient.🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

Every EMS provider has their rituals — the interventions we do out of habit, comfort, or culture, not because the patient actually needs them. In this episode, we dig into the traditions we inherit, the habits we cling to, and the clinical judgment we should be using instead.From c-collars to “just in case” IVs to hanging O₂ like it’s emotional support therapy, we unpack where these rituals came from, why they persist, and when they quietly creep into patient care. Most importantly, we talk about how EMS can evolve past ritual-based practice and toward thoughtful, evidence-driven decision-making.🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

Some people bring dessert to Thanksgiving — Lynne brings questions. In this episode, Aubrey and Jaime hand the mic to Jaime’s mom, who sits down with us armed with pure curiosity and zero EMS background… which somehow makes the conversation even better.📝 Episode show notes: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/episode-guide/ep-52-fireside-chat-turkey-trauma-and-so-whats-the-worst-call-youve-ever-had🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

Skills can be taught. Protocols can be memorized. But judgment? That only comes from the messy calls, the gray-area moments, and the split-second decisions that never look as clean as they do in the textbook.In this episode, Sophie, Aubrey, and Jaime walk through a series of high-stakes, real-world EMS scenarios — the kind that test your critical thinking, your communication, and your ability to stay calm when everything around you isn’t. From shocky trauma with unclear mechanisms, to airway decisions when team members disagree, to ethical chaos with intoxication and capacity, each scenario forces the question: What would you do?We break down how different providers think, what options are truly safe, and how judgment evolves through experience, mistakes, and the uncomfortable calls that stick with you.🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

In this episode, Sophie breaks down the chaos behind pressors and blood pressure meds in EMS—what they do, when to use them, and how not to panic when that BP drops or spikes.From norepinephrine (the reliable one) to nitroglycerin (the smooth talker), Sophie introduces the “main characters” of blood pressure management in the field. You’ll learn how to think in terms of tank, pump, and pipes, avoid common mistakes, and bring physiology back into focus on every call.Whether you’re new to EMS or flying critical care, this episode gives you the practical knowledge—and confidence—to manage your next pressure call like a pro.🎧 Includes:• Simplified pathophysiology for hypotension & hypertension• When (and when not) to use pressors• Common antihypertensives in EMS explained• Real-world case logic & pitfalls• Rapid-fire EMS trivia segment🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

In this episode, Aubrey and Jaime sit down to talk about what it’s really like working as a double medic crew — how their partnership evolved, what changed when they both started carrying the medic patch, and the lessons they’ve learned along the way. From honest conversations to on-scene communication, they share advice for new and seasoned paramedics alike about building trust, staying adaptable, and keeping your partnership strong when the calls get tough.Because in EMS, how well you work together can make all the difference.📝 Episode show notes: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/episode-guide/ep-49-two-medics-walk-into-a-call🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

“Radio Reports”Listener Submissions:• AJ (Washington): A call that left more questions than answers — and a warning that may have followed into the next shift.• Riley (Louisiana): An eerie midnight dispatch to Hollow Creek Road, a house that won’t stay quiet, and a verse that keeps returning.Episode Highlights:• Real listener stories — unedited, true-to-voice, and chillingly real.• Discussion on the unspoken side of EMS: the calls we can’t chart and the moments that never leave us.• A special Halloween message from the Life and Sirens crew.🧡 Submit Your Own Radio Report:Got a story from the field that still gives you chills?Send it to us for a chance to be featured in a future episode.👉 https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreportsHappy Halloween!For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.comFollow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast

Recorded Onsite at EMS World Expo 2025In this special episode of Life and Sirens: Behind and On the Scene, we sit down on the conference-center floor… no like literally the floor… at EMS World 2025 for a fireside-style chat with Shay Montgomery, CCRN, CFRN, NR-P (better known online as @FlightNurseShay (https://www.instagram.com/flightnurseshay)) and her brother Tyler Morris, a fellow EMS professional and educator.Together, this brother-sister EMS duo brings a unique blend of experience across ground EMS, flight medicine, and collegiate-level education. They share honest stories from their journeys, how they found their respective callings, and what it’s really like growing in the profession side-by-side—sometimes literally.From the challenges of finding balance between teaching and clinical practice to the humor that keeps providers sane in long shifts and hotel-conference chaos, this episode captures the heart of what makes EMS a family—both by blood and by bond. It’s candid. It’s real. It’s what happens when providers stop rushing between sessions and actually sit down to talk about life and EMS.📝 Episode show notes: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/episode-guide/ep-47-fireside-chat-with-shay-montgomery-amp-tyler-morris🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

They taught us how to line up the landmarks and pass a tube, but they didn’t tell us how humbling a bad view can feel at 3 a.m., or how much the little things like positioning, BVM technique, and teamwork really matter.In this Fireside Chat, we’re getting real about the airway: the basics that make or break you, the tools we love (and the ones that save you when nothing else works), the chaos vs calm of team dynamics, and the critical care lessons that remind us the tube is only the beginning. It’s honest, unfiltered airway talk, with a side of nerdy stats and a round of trivia to close it out.📝 Episode show notes: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/episode-guide/ep-45-amp-46-airway-the-first-frontier🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

They taught us how to line up the landmarks and pass a tube, but they didn’t tell us how humbling a bad view can feel at 3 a.m., or how much the little things like positioning, BVM technique, and teamwork really matter.In this Fireside Chat, we’re getting real about the airway: the basics that make or break you, the tools we love (and the ones that save you when nothing else works), the chaos vs calm of team dynamics, and the critical care lessons that remind us the tube is only the beginning. It’s honest, unfiltered airway talk, with a side of nerdy stats and a round of trivia to close it out.📝 Episode show notes: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/episode-guide/ep-45-amp-46-airway-the-first-frontier🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

They taught us about STEMIs and scene safety—but they didn’t mention crying in the ambulance bay, learning how to nap in a stairwell, or just how weird 3 a.m. really gets. In this episode, we get real about the things we didn’t know when we started in EMS. From the emotional weight to the unspoken culture, the moments that make you question everything, and the small victories no one teaches you to celebrate—this is the stuff that doesn’t always make it into the textbook. Whether you’re new to the field or 20 years deep, we’re talking about the raw, unexpected, and often overlooked parts of this job that shape who we become.🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports

In this episode, we’re busting some of the most common medical myths floating around EMS—and breaking down the why behind what we should be doing instead. From misunderstood medications to outdated practices that just won’t die, we’re digging into the evidence, the history, and the truth behind those things you’ve heard on shift a hundred times. Because good medicine means questioning what you think you know.🖥️ For more Life & Sirens content, visit www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com📱 Follow us on social media: @LifeAndSirensPodcast🎙️ To submit your stories, questions, or experiences to be featured on the show, follow this link: https://www.lifeandsirenspodcast.com/radioreports