National EMS Week with Life EMS

Mark Meijer, founder and CEO of Life EMS Ambulance joins us to discuss the importance of recognizing the emergency medical services professionals who serve our community around the clock. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is West Michigan's morning news. Steve Kelly and Brett
Meakita cheerleader for all those medical professionals out there as
this is National EMS Week. Founder and CEO of Life
the MS Ambulance, Mark Meyer on the liveline, Thanks for
doing this again today, Mark.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Well, good morning, gentlemen. Great to be with you as.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Always, and talk to us a little bit about this
recognition and why each year nationally, not just locally, we
recognize those of you who are out there on the
front line when it comes to saving lives.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah. Thanks, I just want to take this time in
this entire week to give a special shout out to
all of us personnel, especially a Life MS ambulance that
will respond to your critical need whether it's three in
the afternoon or three in the morning. And just to
recognize that many people both their lifetime not ever needing

(00:54):
to access emergency medical services. So you may not appreciate
the preparedness and the training and the folks ready to
go to treat you with skill and compassion, and what
behind the scenes it takes to get those people on
the scene. So this is our opportunity to give our
folks just a shout out for being there when you

(01:15):
need them most, to take care of what what often
for people is the most tragic and intimate part of
their life.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
And Mark, you went through the training. You've been one
of these folks and so it's special to you. But
I've just got to ask you, after dealing with folks
in my family that came into our home and how
polite they were, how calm they were. I've talked about
that with you, But what is it about the training
that makes these individuals so unique? Because you know, we
talk about a kid about having a bad day, these

(01:44):
folks never have a bad day because they're they're on
it every second of every day.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, that's a great point, Bretton. I mean, they have
to be prepared. And part of what we do, obviously
when we talk about skill and compassion, is that compassion part.
We're blessed with with great people throughout our organization, whether
it's in support roles or those folks that you saw
on the front line. That is hard to teach, and

(02:11):
folks have to bring that with them for the most
part to us at Life CMS, and then we help
with the skills part of that combination. But yeah, you've
got to you have to have that within you to
take care of people. And just wanting to clarify these
you kind of referred to me maybe as a has
been I'm not sure, but I am still currently a
licensed as a paramedicist to be clear.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
Oh You're never a has been Mark Meyer.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Come on, But to any point, you know, our folks
literally along with all other first responders in West Michigan
throughout the country where the firefighters, police officers, what have you,
they literally don't know what they're they're walking into or
walking up to, and they get to a crash scene

(02:56):
or what have you, and they have to be prepared
for everything.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
And speaking of that, what can we do, as you know,
potential patients or somebody who just wants to help support,
what can be we be ready for should a loved
one need to call nine to one one and how
can we help you do your job?

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah? Well it starts with that phone call, and we
provide the only center of excellence in West Michigan from
a medical call taking perspective, So it starts with that
and being prepared to answer questions and allow us to
properly prioritize the calls as we describe it. But they're
just basic things. Making sure your house number is recognizable

(03:38):
from the street, especially at night, that you have a
porch lead on those kinds of things. Maybe if you
have a you know, a three hundred pounds late gain
or something, might have them secured in another room, those
kinds of basic things. But our folks are there to
take care of anything that you need in We can

(04:00):
adapt to pretty much any situation, and so we just
want people to start off with being comfortable with calling
nine on one if they have an emergency and not
you know, when i'm maybe it's not that chest pain
isn't so significant, or I call my son or daughter,
just call and we can help you determine what's going on.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
That is a founder and CEO of Life EMS Ambulance,
Mark Meyer. Always great stuff. Thanks for your time.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Today, well, thanks so much, and again a shout out
to all of our folks that life you in as Abelance.
And I'm on the way to again to break bread
for the third day in the row with our folks.
And so I've gained about I don't know, fifteen pounds
so far in the last three days. So we're going
to Allergan to our new station there for breakfast this morning.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
Well done. Tell them always said, thanks absolutely