Traumedy 2.0

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It’s been a while since the last podcast, mainly because I’ve been waiting to see what is going to happen my everything. It turns out, a new life has entered my life, a new start, and I’m going to continue living.
I want to keep this entertaining and engaging for you and me, so I will be rolling out the second incarnation of the Traumedy Podcast very soon. Please standby and thank you for your continued support and interest.
Ken

Cancer Part 2

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Well, it may be that I’m not done with cancer yet. As of the last MRI, there are two small spots on the dura of my brain, that look abnormal. Best case scenario, cranial surgery, to get a biopsy, and possibly further treatment.

I’m not going to lie, I’m emotional in this one, and doing my best to stay proactive and positive. And now, the book I’m compiling about cancer treatment and well-being will be put to the test, one day at a time.

Fix or Fixate

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While the psychos parade and pillage, the quiet majority shake their heads, politely awaiting their time to speak and be heard. But will it ever come? When they lift their heads to be counted will it be too late?

When did we become this angry and divisive? Perhaps we haven’t. It’s a good way to sell air time, but it’s far from the truth. Lets stand up and be heard. And for God’s sake, let’s not blow up my sons’ world

image of a smiling, beautiful toddler-aged boy, smiling at the camera.  In the background on the television is the image of the earth, exploding into the vacuum of space.

Well, as the world blows up around us, we have to figure out how best to be useful. How about a podcast started while on a jog? Why not.

There’s a rant regarding Minneapolis and the cancelling of Police, followed by the daily housekeeping necessary to stay sane and make the best of chaos, and outrage. Listen at your own risk.

EMT Education: Important and Necessary

Here’s one to pass along to people who are curious and interested in an Emergency/EMS career.  The first step for all?  EMT certification.  Here are my first thoughts about the education, and what it means to possess the knowledge instilled in you through EMT school.  Even if you aren’t going into the profession, or are pursuing another avenue in emergency care, this class is a smart start, and a duty to have for all of society.  If you got a month/semester to spare, EMT certification is worth it.  If you got it, use it Baby!  #traumedypodcast, #ifyougotituseit, #emtjobs, #emtclass, EMSeducation, #emscareer, #ems, #emt

It’s the time of year again to think about what we’re giving and getting in a goodly way.  Here are 10 gifts to give the paramedic and police officer in your life for Christmas. Love and Peace On Earth to us all in the coming new year.

Just in time for Halloween.  The continued Silwa Saga from 2018, and a tie into the Blue Crew, those lovable alcoholic scamps who keep Rio County safe from soul devouring goats, ghouls and demons.  Please enjoy, and pay attention to the hair rising on your neck and that thing bumping around in your house, in the late hours of night.

This is a slow burn people.  Apologies for the languid-ramp up to the topic today.  I was bashful and reluctant to get started.  You could say I was afraid to take the ride.  It gets good and scary quick.  The Boy is there to help me through, and you’ll hear him and the dog chime in tactfully throughout the roller coaster.  I hope this resonates and helps putting fear in perspective for you, as I’m attempting myself.  God’s Love on ya’, and your endeavors.  If you got it, use it!!!

How much of our life consists of us dealing with the present, while still living out the past?  How many relationships are ruined each day because of things that happened days, or years ago, and don’t even involve the ones at which we puff and blow?  It’s especially true for emergency workers, but it’s no excuse.  All the more reason to recognize it, and make the change.

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All things are in flux, and this month is the precipice. It’s the first podcast recorded and produced on an iPhone entirely. I say goodbye to an old loved one, and hello to a new one.

Prepare for the upcoming captain’s test, and push forward on the Cancer Foundation. Keep swimming.  The waves will always roll, so get on the right side of them, and slide.

Tales of loss, woe, slow death, and the eternal undead, slouching across the Earth. The demons are amassing, and fighting for our souls.  Will you be ready, when the bell rings, and you’re responding to The House of Leviathan?  Don’t get caught after sunset in the Borderlands.  You may be dragged down.  Be safe and keep looking over your shoulder…it’s coming…

I speak with Dan Saracino, volunteer and advocate of the Valor Games– Para-Olympic events for wounded and disabled Armed Forces veterans.  If all goes well, the Games will be held this May on the Base in Alameda…IF we are able to raise enough money.  It has been running for more than 4 years in the Bay Area, but due to budget cuts by organizations who shall remain nameless, we are short 25,000.  Hopefully, with help from investors, and people like you, we will be able to provide a place and time for vets to congregate and compete in a positive, friendly environment.

I can think of no worthier cause, and I hope you can help in any way.

To donate, please go to The Valor Games website through this link.  Big thanks in advance.

Are you there yet?  Feeling overworked and underpaid?  Ready to take it out on the world?  Back it down, quickdraw.  Burnout is part of the job, and a risk to your professionalism.

Where is your mental, emotional balance?  All too often we lose patience, with our patients, and we lose drive and, above all, compassion.

The last thing you should do is share in the toxicity.  Here are some steps to facing and eliminating your negativity.  I hope it helps.

Thanks to everyone who came out to Strike Brewing Company, in support of the Fighting Chance Foundation, San Jose’s first responder’s Cancer Foundation.  The turnout was large, the appetites larger, and the wallets overflowing.  We made enough money to ratify the Foundation, and begin a fund for firefighters and first responders to help prevent and fight cancer.  Big thanks to all who helped put the fundraiser together, Benny Naranjo, Craig Black, Mike Hidalgo, Chris Cobillas, and so many others.  I feel blessed in the brotherhood; a fortunate family member.

In the second podcast of our two part feature on Heroin, we discuss heroin’s permeation into 20th century’s counter and pop culture, first as a means of physical and mental pain relief, and pas a means of escape.  Teddy Roosevelt and Prohibition, and the League of Nations are no match for the pull that Heroin has the world’s citizens.  It’s all we can do to stay afloat in the sea of the epidemic…but if we keep cool, there still may be some saving measures.

This is the story of Heroin, the most addictive and mesmerizing drug known to mankind.  When it was created, and how it became the biggest drug epidemic in human history.  In the first of two parts, Ken recounts how it went from the cure all “Wonder Drug,” to one of the worst misdistributed drugs in history, and how it smashed all medical, pharmacological and societal hopes as a savior drug.  If you know someone who needs help, please contact

The Recovery Village at:

                                                                                 1 (844) 244-3171

Ever wonder why EMTs get paid so little?  They are a necessary link in the chain of survival, yet they are an after thought; the bastard child of EMS, having to do all the chores the other caregivers shirk.  There are social, historical and behavioral reasons that contribute to the pay famine, and Ken breaks it down in this podcast.

Say man, you got a grandfather like Ken Sr., man?  It’d be a lot cooler if you did. I learned damn near everything necessary for navigating life with a sneer and daring from this man.

Thinking Ken Allen this Christmas. You are remembered and respected every day of my life, and I’m still learning. Merry Christmas Gramps.

It’s that time for Clan Allen to get together, imbibe, and give 5 gifts they would most like for the holidays.  Here they are for you to peruse, per chance to buy yourself, or your favorite caregiver/crime stopper in your life.

Christmas Gifts 2017

MOM:
1 Yeti Tumbler coffee mug personalized
2 Nurse Jewelry: caduceus
3 Artist Frank Netter/CIBA Collection
4 Battery Powered Pulse Oximeter
5 House Cleaner for a Day/Chef

RYE
1 Tactical Knife/Leatherman
2 Uniform Boots
3 AMMO
4 Off Duty Firearm Waistband Holster with Magazine Holder
5 Oakley Ballistic Sunglasses/Eye Protection

KEN:
1 Mirrored Compacts/Pill Holders Heart/
2 Wallet Badge
3 NETTER IPhone Anatomy/Physiology App
4 12v Battery Operated Fire Engine Big Wheel
5 Trip to National Fire Museum

DAD:
1 Subscription to Vintage Fire Truck Magazine
2 Technu
3 Fixed blade Skinning knife for truckers
4 MACHETE
5 Blood Stopping Bandages for Home

Back with the spine tinglers.  One of mine, one timeless radio broadcast of Light’s Out, entitled “Chicken Heart.”  Can you feel thew air get thicker?  The walls closing in on you?  The noises in the darkness are only in your head…or are they?  Enjoy and share!  Got it?  Use it!interreview1 1829738_orig

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I speak to the city administrators and workers about thew risks of cancer for firefighters, in a rough draft of a speech I hope to perfect shortly for public consumption and awareness.  Please tell me what you think.  Watch yourselves out there, and be the change.  Got it?  Use it.Lect 1 Lect with Flag

How does a hero live their life, day to day?  How do we stave the spread of evil apathy that infects society as they sleep and sit in reclining desk chairs?  Who is there to save us from The Nothing?  Ken Fucking Allen.  That’s who.  You’re welcome.  Mind of Odysseus, Heart of a Lion, Physique of Heracles.  N…B…D…
KEN & LION

Trial By Fire 2

Live FireBack to the job.  It’s the same, but different as a man-fuaque.  I’m not sure I’m ready for this, yet, I AM .   Listen and help me here peoples.  If you’ve got it, use it.  Peace, love and sweat!

I wished I looked as cool as the guys around me.  If you want to see them, their graduation date is coming up.  We owe it to these cadets to show up and thank them for taking on the honor and the world on their shoulders.  God Bless the Recruits of 2017-1.

Hey All!  Let’s keep our lives free of any Big C’s.  This podcast is dedicated to all the firefighters saving everyones’ lives, and how they can take a few steps while on fires, and afterwards, to significantly reduce your risk of contracting cancer in their careers, or in retirement.  Please listen, hear and follow up on it.  Ken makes it real easy by following the lyrics of the PSA song at the end of the podcast.  Enjoy and hear the message…it just may save your life.  FRONT HAIR BACK HAIR

imagesUnknownIT’S that time again all you  SCARE-AMEDICS and NURSE CRACKTICIANERS!  Another chance to be scared out of your O.R. scrubs while working the graveyard shift.   I hope you enjoy this as much as I did making it.  Keep listening, and if you feel that cold breath on your neck while listening, don’t turn it up, run!!

A look at some strategies that have helped- and continue to help- me to be a professional in healthcare.  Swish them around in your brain pan for a minute, get a flavor for them, and if you like it, let them trickle down your psyche.  I hope you find these tips helpful.  and if you have some tips of your own, share them.  We’d love to read them on the Podcast.

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Chris Warren, founder of Fist Responder One, talks about his Foundation, dedicated to helping First Responders in dealing with critical stress and Post Traumatic Stress Injuries.  Sailing photoUrban ShieldWith a little help from his friends, Chris will be funding care for police officers, firefighters, EMTs, Paramedics, Nurses, even Park Rangers; who want clinical treatment.  Amazing man!  If you’re interested in helping, leave a message here.  And keep the care on the air!

Part 2 with Psychologist Joelle Maletis.  LISTEN, Counseling and psycho-analysis is the sanest thing you can do to fix a problem you can’t see your way around.  Seek out the answers!!!!  We discuss who and where to find self-help.

Also, Joelle discusses the issues facing families and relationships involving military and para-military professionals.  She gives some great pointers on how to communicate with your spouse, and how to keep the spice in the stew, and not bubbling over into the fire.  Sit down and simmer with us, Son!   jo2

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Psychologist Joelle Maletis sits down for a one-on-one to talk about the stresses faced by people in military and paramilitary professions.  She discusses the short and long term stresses that make high stakes careers that can bleed into one’s personal life, as it so often does.  If you need a drink, HOLD OFF! Listen to this segment first.  You’ll be doing yourself a solid.

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 Wendy Moore, author of The Knife Man: Blood, Body Snatching, and the Birth of Modern Surgery, joins us for a one-on-one interview, to discuss Dr. John Hunter, the famous surgeon, anatomist, naturalist and medical pioneer of the 1800 Century.

Ms. Moore explains what it is about Hunter’s practices and persona that have stood that test of time and rivals, and has granted him a place in the annals of Medicine.

Enjoy as we meet and speak with the author, under who’s eloquent mind and direction, the gruff, bloody, brilliant work of Hunter’s comes to life.   

The Knife Man and Moore’s other two novels, Wedlock  and  How to Create the Perfect Wife are on sale now in bookstores and through the internet (www.amazon.com).  Buy a copy for everyone at the hospital, staff members and Staph Members, alike.

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Director/Producer  Gene Starzenski joins the podcast to talk about his documentary, “Freedom House: Street Saviors.”  Gene explains the creation of the first paramedic organization in the U.S., and relates how his intrigue and appreciation for the Freedom House Medics ultimately led to the creation of a film that would illuminate and honor their heroic endeavor.

Join us at the Roxie, February 26 for a showing of the

documentary, followed by a Q&A with Gene.  Get more info at:

www.freedomhousedoc.com

For ticket info, go to:

www.roxie.com

Check it out, friends!  I’ll see you at the Roxie.

 

 

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Megan CorryMegan digs deeper into the bowels of the EMS machine, rips out its guts and holds the glistening entrails up for us to see, dissect and understand.  She talks about the “Golden Days” of San Francisco Department of Public Health’s Ambulance Fleet.  In the end, she leaves us with hope and inspiration to pursue a career fraught with terror and beauty.  Enjoy

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