There are a lot of “activities” available onboard, but one thing was lacking: a speaker series of talks by the residents themselves. We have a lot of interesting people aboard from a wide variety of professions, either retired or still active.
So Kit started a speaker series, which has been very popular. Did she invite me as the first speaker? Noooooo! She already had someone signed up before I even knew she was doing it, so I was second. (The first was a technical talk about how the body adapts to heat stress by a Canadian researcher who did studies on the subject for the military. It was pretty darned interesting.)
When it was my turn we didn’t even have anything set up to record the talks, so I asked if anyone could record me (thank you Katrina for jumping in! You were amazingly steady with your cell phone!) Because of that, it starts abruptly. I overlaid my slides on top of the video so you could see them better.
The Only One There
This is my talk, titled “The Only One There” — when you’re the first First Responder, sometimes you really are there alone in perhaps life-or-death situations. But there’s an uplifting twist at the end that left some in the audience in tears.
No, this isn’t “about” Residential Cruising, but when I mentioned this speaker series on Facebook, there was a pile-on of “can you post the talk online?!” So here’s the first one.
If you like it, I’ll also build a video of the second one: “The Cassini Mission to Saturn: a Personal Reflection” of my time at NASA. It’s not about the mission per se — definitely not a recap of the mission — but rather about the people who made it happen, and what it was like to work with them.
The Video
Last Updated January 2, 2025 — Originally Published January 2, 2025- About the Author
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Great story! I was stationed at CVB not far from Arcata. It sure has changed. I like listening to the stories and look forward to listening to more.
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I had to look it up: Naval Facility Centerville Beach was in southern Humboldt County, and was decommissioned in 1993. I was not aware of it when I lived in the county. -rc
A very interesting and a good topic. Thank you Kit for setting up a series for those to enjoy. Thank you, Randy! Your dedication and community service is noted.
Very cool presentation! I dated an EMT from SF in the mid-1980s. It was him saying to me that he was tired of interpreting for the cops when he was dealing with injured people that pushed me to offer Spanish for Law Enforcement Officers classes at the SF Police Academy. I worked there until 1990 when I moved to Chile.
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Very cool! -rc
Thank you for this recording. It is fascinating and heart-warming to learn about your experiences.
I have a question about “good samaritans”. If someone not on duty or not currently certified (but previously certified), or even currently certified — and they perform attempts to save a life and fail, can they be adjudicated as “guilty”. I have heard awful stories.
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“Adjudicated guilty” implies that the person did something wrong. While “anyone” can be sued for “anything,” adjudicated is the key: did they actually cause harm? In the U.S. and Canada, I believe every state/province has a Good Samaritan law that protects people who act in good faith. Wikipedia has a decent overview. Other countries may vary: in 2011 I wrote about a terrible incident in China where people refused to help a young child, and in so refusing the child was killed. It led to strong calls to reform because indeed, people were afraid of being blamed for her injuries. It would not be surprising for people be hesitant to help someone on the street in foreign countries not just for liability reasons, but because that’s a common way to lure in unsuspecting tourists for criminal action, such as suing them for “doing something” to them, to rob them, etc. Good question, complex answer. -rc
Love this! Thanks for posting.
Yes, please let us see your talk on the Cassini Mission!
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It’ll probably be a couple of weeks. Pretty stacked up with to-do items! But, noted. -rc
Wow. Very open, personal and enlightening. Can relate to rural healthcare since I live in Wyoming. Thankful you and your wife dedicated some of your life to such a worthy and stressful job. Happy sails to you. Seems you have more than earned it.
We miss our favorite first-responders on Log Hill!
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We were glad to be there for you and yours. -rc
Cool. I’m one of your This Is True subscribers from the Albuquerque area and, while I knew you are an emergency responder, I didn’t now much about your career as such. I was a volunteer firefighter but I mostly responded to traffic accidents and put out the fire in the sawdust collector behind the furniture factory every two weeks.
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We had our “frequent flyers.” You had your “frequent fires”?! Crazy! 🙂 -rc
That sounds like the year my dad worked at the Astoria Plywood Mill in Astoria, Oregon — a fire station was literally next door because they were at the mill on a very frequent basis for fires in the machinery, usually the dryers. The mill was closed and torn down in the early 90s.
Thanks for making us suburban residents aware of what it’s like living in rural America. I have followed you for years on True and feel like you are a relative by now!
Gail and I really enjoyed the video. We’re glad you are doing well.
Best wishes and happy new year from Log Hill Village.
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Thanks, Jim! As others may gather, Log Hill is the mesa where we were based. -rc
Very nice! I’m retired after about 35 years in emergency medicine. Got to say, it made things so much easier for us when the patients arrived after being treated and transported by an ALS paramedic. Although working mostly night shift in a fairly rural area, I also know the feeling of aloneness, being the only doctor in the house. But medics, police, firemen, and nurses were an immense help.
I assume ALS means something other than the medical diagnosis?
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Definitely watch the video: “Advanced Life Support”. -rc
Very interesting! Thank you for posting — and please thank your volunteer camera person!
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Already did! -rc
That was a neat talk, Randy. It was nice to see you and Kit in the video. You two did a lot for the community, and now hopefully after end of watch life is much more carefree. I still get nostalgic when Michelle N. cosigns checks instead of you.
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Heh! Say Hi to Michelle for me. -rc
Thanks for sharing this post on YouTube and us on Residential Cruising. Often people that do extraordinary things don’t talk about what they have done. Because to them it’s just what they do. My son is a paramedic in London and has bad knees from all the lifting and carrying things at a trot.
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I have written about many of my experiences, and readers have really liked the EMS Stories in my blog. The reality of it is, it IS interesting stuff that I was doing, and there is a lot to be learned from it. So, why not? (Within the bounds of patient privacy, of course.) -rc