The JEMS Report

Join Brad Pitassi, the assistant chief of City of Maricopa (AZ) Fire and Medical, as he shares his path to emergent leadership.

He discusses how prepping for law school turned into firefighting and a public information officer role, and how those communication and relationship building skills served as the foundation for his recent promotion to assistant chief of administrative services.

Chief Pitassi shares stories of success, but also one of failure following the fatal Yarnell Hill Fire. He explains how he has since used that lesson to become a stronger and more empathetic leader.

Brad explains his PIO mindset, how to manage the face of your organization and describes how investing in social equity strengthens community relations and empowers employees.

Welcome to Emergent Leadership where we connect with passionate leaders who just have to share their stories, perspectives, and most importantly, lessons learned.

The need is urgent, the events are critical, and the you of tomorrow is just an episode away!

Join the conversation: If you have a leadership topic, experience, or lesson learned you would like to share or hear more about, send an email HERE or use and follow #emergentleadership to join the conversation. You can also connect to Brett directly through LinkedIn or follow her journey on YouTube .

JEMS Editor Emeritus A.J. Heightman talks with EMS visionary, researcher and educator extraordinaire Mike Taigman about living with stress and stress management in EMS, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mike and his wife Sascha recently released their insightful book “Super-Charge Your Stress Management in the Age of COVID-19.” 

Mike Taigman is the leading expert in improvement science, resilience, and stress management at First Watch based out of Carlsbad, California. Mike’s broad experience helps him turn data into actionable information, helps teams build their resilience using our neuroscience-based ResilientFirst system, and teaches stress management techniques that can be used by anyone anywhere.

Mike facilitated the development of EMS Agenda 2050 a vision for EMS in America 30 years in the future. Inspired by the “people centered” aspect of Agenda 2050, Mike works with some of the world leading physicians and researchers to bring evidenced-based leadership, education and practices to the EMS industry. These practices help create organizations where employees are resilient, joyful, thriving, and providing compassionate care during long careers.

As a young street paramedic in Denver, Mike honed his clinical skills caring for patients and helping new paramedics learn to provide solid clinical care with kindness and compassion.

As a popular conference educator, author of more than 600 articles in professional journals, an associate professor in the graduate program in emergency health services management at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and an associate adjunct professor in the master’s program in healthcare administration and interprofessional leadership at the University of California San Francisco, Mike has focused on helping professionals save more lives, reduce suffering, and be more effective leaders.

As a consultant, Mike has worked with EMS, fire, and public health in 48 of the 50 states, most of the Canadian provinces, Israel, Palestine, Australia and throughout Europe. His expertise includes EMS street survival, patient centered leadership, effective quality/performance improvement, and resiliency. He holds a master’s degree in organizational systems and is frequently part of the faculty for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

Mike’s wife Sascha Liebowitz is an accomplished writer and author of “Living Every Minute of It,” a blog about living each day with patience, tolerance, kindness and love towards oneself and others. A former New York lawyer, Sascha now lives in California focusing on family, writing, and being of service to others. She holds a BA from Columbia College and a JD from New York University School of Law.

This episode of the EMS Today Show, and Mike and Sascha’s book “Super-Charge Your Stress Management in the Age of COVID-19,” will give you important tools to develop and maintain resiliency and get through this difficult time in your EMS career.

In a testimonial about the book, Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement said it best, “Managing … stress is a continual task for the healing professions—more challenging perhaps in the era of COVID-19, but, frankly, always with us.”

Dr. Berwick goes on to say that the book “draws on a wide library of science, teachings, and experience and distills it all into a readable and useful collection of practical, attractive techniques. Each one seems not only promising, but frankly, fun.”

His concluding remark really sums up why a book by Mike Taigman will be so helpful to emergency service personnel: “This book brings optimism and oxygen at a time when we badly need both.”

How do differences strengthen an organization? Or do they?

Join David Patterson, chief executive officer of Falck Rocky Mountain, Inc. as he opens up to hostess Brett Lyle about his experiences working for the USA division of an international organization.

David shares his story about an eye-opening experience at the European EMS Congress, talks through intercultural lessons learned and explains how he has used those lessons to strengthen his teams and himself, as a mentor and an emergent leader.

He offers solutions for agencies looking to grow internal leaders, advice to individuals on how to advocate for their own career progression and the key to a successful transition.

David recognizes the uniqueness of each person’s leadership journey, the value in the differences and leaves emergent leaders with words of encouragement for the future.

Welcome to Emergent Leadership where we connect with passionate leaders who just have to share their stories, perspectives, and most importantly, lessons learned.

The need is urgent, the events are critical, and the you of tomorrow is just an episode away!

Join the conversation: If you have a leadership topic, experience, or lesson learned you would like to share or hear more about, send an email to [email protected] or use and follow #emergentleadership to join the conversation on LinkedIn. You can also connect to Brett directly through LinkedIn or follow her journey on YouTube.

In this special edition podcast, Jonathon Feit gives a talk to Harvard in Tech and the COVID Foundation about contact tracing. He uses three case studies involving Los Angeles County Fire; Harris County, Texas (Emergency Services District 48 and Cypress Creek EMS); and the Rio Rico Medical & Fire District in Arizona.

JEMS Editor Emeritus A.J. Heightman talks with Matt Zavadsky, chief strategic integration officer for MedStar Mobile Health Care (TX) and the present president of NAEMT, about some of the current issues impacting EMS agencies.

It’s an informative episode that touches on:

• The impact of COVID-19 on reduced call for service, reduced transports and increasing cardiac arrest volumes – and how it is affecting services operationally and financially;

On this debut episode of Another Dose, Dr. Candice McDonald and Robin Goldinger are joined by Jack Sullivan, the director of training of the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen's Association's Emergency Responder Safety Institute, and Ohio State Troopers Lt. Jeff Greene and PIO/Sgt. Ray Santiago. They discuss strategies for EMS professionals to reduce the risk of injury and fatality while working on the roadway.

Can words and the way you use them really affect how your message is received? The saying is, “it’s not about what you say, but how you say it,” so is it possible for words to shape your destiny, that of your team and of your programs?   

Join Ernie Rodriguez, Chief of Austin-Travis County EMS (Texas) as he opens up to hostess Brett Lyle, about his stories and experiences leading this large metropolitan system. He shares how his words have defined his experiences, the tools he uses to manage relationships with his 600+ internal team members, and how the intentional way he presents facts to external stakeholders has afforded he and his department unique opportunities.

He speaks about how to keep up with a progressive, technology-savvy, engaged population, a time he thought his words might have lost him his job, and how not knowing any better has allowed him to accomplish the seemingly impossible.

Ernie leaves you with a strong message about caring for your people and offers actionable advice for fellow Emergent Leaders.  

Welcome to Emergent Leadership where we connect with passionate leaders who just have to share their stories, perspectives, and most importantly, lessons learned.

The need is urgent, the events are critical, and the you of tomorrow is just an episode away!

Join the conversation: If you have a leadership topic, experience, or lesson learned you would like to share or hear more about, send an email to [email protected] or use and follow #emergentleadership to join the conversation on LinkedIn. You can also connect to Brett directly through LinkedIn or follow her journey on YouTube.

While the flu vaccine won't protect you from COVID-19, Katherine West explains why getting the vaccine is important.

Ever wonder how people gain thousands of connections on LinkedIn or what purpose followers might serve, anyway?

Tim Nowak has 14,500 followers. Join this LinkedIn expert and industry conversationalist as he opens up to hostess Brett Lyle about his personal stories and experiences with how the platform has helped him find his voice and how he has perfected the art of using it.

He speaks about the powers of curiosity and targeted networking, discusses challenges that come with developing your personal brand and explores the journey and power in online relationship building.

Tim makes a personal offer to you and leaves motivating words of advice for fellow Emergent Leaders.   

Welcome to Emergent Leadership where we connect with passionate leaders who just have to share their stories, perspectives, and most importantly, lessons learned.

The need is urgent, the events are critical, and the you of tomorrow is just an episode away!

Join the conversation: If you have a leadership topic, experience, or lesson learned you would like to share or hear more about, send an email to [email protected] or use and follow #emergentleadership to join the conversation on LinkedIn. You can also connect to Brett directly through LinkedIn or follow her journey on YouTube.

This must watch EMS TODAY Show episode zeroes in on not just the tremendous work by FDNY and other New York City 911-contracted EMS responders, but also on the horrible pay and benefit inequity between FDNY EMS personnel and their counterparts in FDNY and the NYPD.

JEMS Editor Emeritus A.J. Heightman talks with Anthony Almojera, a 13-year veteran lieutenant paramedic with FDNY EMS and the vice president of Local 3621, the FDNY EMS Officers' union representing lieutenants and captains. He’s currently assigned to Station 40 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.