July 19, 2025 • 36 mins
Episode 302: As we approach the Pittsburgh EMS 50th Anniversary, Medic2Medic Podcast will bring you 2 tribute podcasts honoring Dr. Stewart.
In these special tribute episodes, we honor the life, leadership, and legacy of Dr. Ron Stewart, a visionary physician and the City of Pittsburgh's EMS Medical Director, as well as a true pioneer in emergency medical services.
Dr. Stewart helped shape EMS as we know it, bringing medical oversight, high training standards, and compassion to the field. He mentored generations of paramedics and physicians and laid the foundation for the modern EMS model.
Join me, Dave Lindell, Mike Yee, Wes Notovitz, and Dave Naples over 2 episodes, who lived and worked within the impact zone of Dr. Stewart’s groundbreaking work: Through stories, reflections, and gratitude, we explore the man behind the title and the enduring mark he left on EMS. Our first episode is with Dave and Wes.
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/dr-stewart-tribute-with-wes-notivitz-and-dave-naples--67038317
In these special tribute episodes, we honor the life, leadership, and legacy of Dr. Ron Stewart, a visionary physician and the City of Pittsburgh's EMS Medical Director, as well as a true pioneer in emergency medical services.
Dr. Stewart helped shape EMS as we know it, bringing medical oversight, high training standards, and compassion to the field. He mentored generations of paramedics and physicians and laid the foundation for the modern EMS model.
Join me, Dave Lindell, Mike Yee, Wes Notovitz, and Dave Naples over 2 episodes, who lived and worked within the impact zone of Dr. Stewart’s groundbreaking work: Through stories, reflections, and gratitude, we explore the man behind the title and the enduring mark he left on EMS. Our first episode is with Dave and Wes.
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/dr-stewart-tribute-with-wes-notivitz-and-dave-naples--67038317
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Come up, co Mike getting attention.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
All listeners on this frequency stand by for an important announcement.
Welcome to Medic to Medic podcast, the weekly podcast for
EMS providers, EMS leaders, EMS, medical directors and others involved
in or those who have an interest in emergency medical services.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Ladies and gentlemen, here's your host, Steve.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Cohen, coming from the Ferndale Medical Medic Podcast Studios. Hi,
it's another special edition of Medical medic Podcasts where I'm
going to bring you some stories from the city of
Pittsburgh and talking about memories with doctor Stewart. Of course,
I am your host. You can reach me at Medical
(00:49):
Medic Podcasts at gmail dot com and today's episode, as
I said, as a special one as we remember and
celebrate the legacy of doctor Ronald Stewart. He just wasn't
a leader in EMS. He was a visionary who helped
shape emergency medicine as we know it today, from his
work in Pittsburgh to his influence in medical education and
even Hollywood. His impact was far reaching. Joining me today
(01:12):
are too retired City of Pittsburgh paramedics Dave Naples and
West Notovitz, both of them who experienced firsthand the evolution
of EMS and Pittsburgh and the lasting impact of doctor
Ronald Stewart. David Wes, Welcome to Medical medic Podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Thanks for having us, Steve, Thank you, Steve.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
It's good to catch up with Dave and Wes. Wes
was working for the city Pittsburgh when I got hired,
and Dave and I got hired together back when in
the early eighties, and we were reminiscing a little bit
about our lives since then as well. Before we get
to talk about doctor Stewart, let's set the scene for
our listeners. Pittsburgh MESS has always been a strong, strong reputation,
(01:52):
but things were very different when you both started. Can
you take us back, good Wes, you can start, yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
I got hired in August of nineteen seventy seven. Back then,
the EMS system in Pittsburgh had.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Only about a year.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Or so before transitioned over from the original Freedom House Ambulance, which,
for those that aren't familiar, was one of the pioneer
services in what became modern EMS anywhere in the country
and to some degree in the world. It was started
as a minority hiring program in the African American community
(02:35):
and morphed into so much more. And doctor Stewart wasn't
involved initially, but he.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Came in in.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
The very late nineteen seventies or nineteen eighty and completely
changed everything.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
It was unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
The description you gave about doctor Stewarts the doesn't even
do him justice. The man was way beyond a visionary.
He was an unbelievable human being. He helped the shape
emergency medicine worldwide, emergency pre hospital care, and for us
to have been such an integral part of that was
(03:17):
such an honor.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It's amazing things he did for me. The memories, they
just stay with you.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yeah, we'll get it. We'll get into those memories further
down in the podcast. Dave, how about you when you
first got to the city of Pittsburgh and joined.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
Well, Steve, As you said, we got hired together in
the early eighties and Pittsburgh MS was doing some novel
experiments with trying staffing. As you know, our class, even
though the majority of us were already certified paramedics, we
got hired as EMTs as a first iteration of trying
(03:54):
to build a two tiered system that would be more
flexible to send the right level of training to the
right responses.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
So it was an interesting time to come in. We
were the first.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
Class of EMTs, but I think some of our colleagues
who became our partners and friends that were paramedics at
that time were kind of.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Frightened or scared of what this may.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
Portend for their future and ALS in the city. But
the director at the time, Glenn Cannon, I think he
had a vision and knew he wanted to enhance the
amount of units on the streets and designed that EMT
program so that they would eventually become paramedics. And within
(04:41):
two years those units had transitioned from EMT or BLS.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Units to ALS units. So it was.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Again Pittsburgh being a very innovative system, was trying to
do a lot of new things to enhance.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
The delivery of care.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
And Doctor Stewart at the time when we got hired
was the medical director MD one, and that I think
fit well with his program of keeping Pittsburgh on the
forefront trying new and innovative ideas. And then as we
get into talking about more of our relationship and how
(05:21):
we interacted with our physician staff, well get into more
about doctor Stewart here in a few minutes.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I guess, yeah, absolutely, I guess. One of the questions
I kind of wanted to get you both to kind
of elaborate on, is who was doctor Stewart. He was known,
as Wes said earlier, as a visionary and an innovator,
and as well as a mentor to so many in
emergency medicine and EMS. Before we get into maybe some
personal stories that you had interacting with doctor Stewart, let's
(05:52):
set the stage. What was it about doctor Stewart that
made him such a defining figure in the EMS. Dave,
we'll start with you.
Speaker 5 (05:59):
I think if I were to reflect on that, I
think it was his passion for patient care and for
the delivery of the best quality of medicine.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
It didn't matter to him. I think, whether you know
whether it was.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
In the clinical setting, in the hospital or in the streets,
I believe his passion truly was and you know, a
patient advocate for the highest quality patient care, and as
an educator too, as a teacher.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
That's how I feel was his best qualities.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Wes, same question start out as I have to absolutely
pair it with Dave just said he covered that part
very eloquently. Another thing was and it was something that
always impressed me, and I've never experienced it anywhere else
with anyone else. And I've been still I've been any
(06:57):
of us educators since the eighties.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
I still do. I teach the Coastguard.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
Doctor Stewart always considered us calleagues. Now here's a man
with his doctorate, all of this education, all this expertise,
are a worldwide reputation as an emergency physician and educator,
and he considered us his calleagues. And I'll never forget
(07:27):
once we were doing something and he.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Said that, you know, you're my callingues.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
And I was like, taking aback, and it's like and
he looked at me and it's like, yeah, you're my callingues.
And that that probably impressed me on a personal end
more than anything else about the man is the fact
that he didn't consider us lesser because we didn't have
the education for the background that he had to him.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
We were all on the same playing field.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
And he treated everybody like and I think that's one
of the reasons why he was always so successful with
what he did.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So I think one of the incredible traits that he
had that made him stand out, just not as a
medical leadership as medical leadership, but as a person, and
that's what I thought made him stand out. And the
other thing, you know, just talking about his innovation, he
always liked to do research, He always liked to write.
I used his monographs on a pretty regular basis when
(08:28):
I was in school working on my degree. But he
also said, I think one of the things that a
lot of people might not even talk about is that
he was probably the pioneer on letting paramedics in debate.
Right back then it was always the EOA. He said,
no paramedics can in debate, and that is something that
(08:51):
I know that at least on our crew at Medic five,
is always who's going to get to do. Of course,
Chuck was the key of and always the indbator, and
there was always a fight between him and Mike and
I trying to see who would get the tube or so.
But I thought his airway education knowledge and getting paramedics
(09:11):
and in debate was a big innovation for EMS, just
not in Pittsburgh, but all over. Dave, do you have
any thoughts on that.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Well, when it comes to innovation, I completely echon to that.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
I think that when I first got to Pittsburgh MS,
I noticed that all the crews, I mean no matter
where across the city or didn't matter which line you know,
of shift you were working on. One of those skills
(09:40):
that everybody took at immense amount of pride in was
that the City of Pittsburgh paramedics indicate their patients I
mean when appropriate, obviously.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
But working on the e MT trucks, we would.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
Often back up the medic units and so you get
to work with a variety of them. You know, in
those first year or two until we got promoted, and
every car ack arrest where Bruce would like you say,
fight over who could get the tube, and it was
always done quickly, very quickly, compared to maybe some of
(10:12):
the suburban services that didn't get the frequency of the
calls or they didn't have the quality of the training
that we had from doctor Stewart. I think everybody it
was very confident in their abilities to handle a difficult airway,
to pass a tube effectively, and to confirm its location.
(10:35):
And you know that that kind of aggressive als care
was the was the standard for Pittsburgh MS and I
think that was a direct result of doctor Stewart's advocating
that an advanced airway was what was necessary for patients
that were an extremis You needed to be able to
control that airway and you know, give them that shot
(10:57):
at being resuscitated or making sure that they didn't deteriorate
from hypoxias.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You won't add anything.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Yeah, absolutely, again to Pairent everything Dave said. But one
of the things that people have to realize too is
the fact that not only was this a pioneering thing
to do outside of a hospital setting, the amount of
blowback and criticism the doctor Stewart endured and also the
(11:25):
m docs worked under him. As a result, the people
in the medical community that felt that he was wrong,
that we had no business doing that. The only people
that should do that are physicians that are well trained
in an emergency room setting, were anesthesiologists.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
We had no business.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Doing endotracheal innovation, especially in the field.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
And it was relenting.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
The objections that he received were relented, but he proved it.
He stood asked, and his faith in us never waved.
And yes, there were that rare, undetected esophageal innovation that
didn't get found in the field. That happened once in
a very very very very blue moon, and other things
(12:18):
that happened which could happen in the emergency room, but
it didn't phase it.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
If somebody got caught with an.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Esophageal innovation, it reported they were mediated.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
It didn't happen again.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
And it was so such a rare occurrence as to
be inconsequential. But of course to the naysayers one was
a big deal and they made big deals out of it.
But he never wavered. And because of that, look where
ums is today.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Look at the innovations of the lighted skylet too now
using video, right, I mean, and all because the so
he might not get all that credit, but if he
doesn't start that, letting paramedics in debate and doing research,
letting us and then the delighted style into other innovations,
you know, probably wouldn't have video larreon Goscoviy today. I
(13:14):
think he deserves that credit. Let's talk about a particular
moment where maybe you saw his influence firsthand, or you
had an interaction or ay or favorite memory of doctor Stewart.
Go ahead, Wes, we'll start with you.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
There was a lot of them, but the one that
stood out most that he showed me.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
The true metal of what he was as.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
A teacher, a mentor, and actually as a friend because
he considered us all friends more so than anything else.
And that was amazing. The man loved us. I mean, Dave,
I'm sure you agree, and it just it was. Back
in nineteen eighty we were all part a bunch of us,
(14:02):
not all of us, but a bunch of us were
involved with him on a more intimate level at the
Center for Emergency Medicine with something called the med Exchange Program,
and we did we had the opportunity to do whereas
nowadays you do podcasts, back then you do a recording
that you call on the phone and you could listen
to a brief educational tape.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Well, he had me and a couple other people.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
Who wanted to do it. We were doing these educational tapes.
Others were doing helping with research products. There was maybe
about a dozen of us that were willing to put
in the extra time and work with him over on
Offer Street at the Center. And what we got as
a reward in nineteen eighty there was the world's first
(14:50):
brief congress and pre hospital care that was held in Brighton, England.
And if you don't know where Brighton is, it's on
the north coast of England on the English Channel, right
across from France. Say Brighton is actually a tourist, not
unlike Atlantic City or Wildwood here in the States. He
(15:11):
was able to convince the University of Pittsburgh for all
of us on the med Exchange program that we're putting
in time to pay our total expenses to go to
this congress in England. That's round trip international airfare, our hotel,
the conference fees, everything but some of our meals was
(15:32):
paid for by the university. And that was amazing. Then
he went a step further and he said, any of
us that were involved in the program that we're going,
of course, there were going to be lectures, and there
was going to be something called free papers, and that's
where you kind of just write. You write a paper
and you deliver it probally to the Congress, to everybody
(15:54):
at Stare from all over the world. And there were
doctors and nantas, all kinds of people in the medical
community that were heavily involved in.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Pre hospital care throughout the world that we're going to
be at this event. And I wrote the.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Paper, and the title of the paper I wrote was
our physicians necessary and meeting. Aren't they necessary in the streets.
I delivered this paper to doctor Stuart and he said,
once you get the papers done, given to me. He
had a deadline because he wanted to get ever anything
done well before.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
We went to the airport. And next thing I know,
I get the paper back.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
It had been completely redone with footnotes, and I mean
I never expected he would go that far.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
And he said it's on the schedule. I submitted it.
I said wow.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
So we went to England, had an unbelievable experience over
an area airport several days, and I delivered my paper
to come to find out after the fact. One day,
doctor Stewart approaches me. I was in the center. He says,
I have something for you.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
I said. Once that. He hands me this book. Well,
here the free papers got published, so here I am.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
He can't pay the bookmarked. I opened it up and
I started this book to put away for safe keeping.
The paper Doctor Roaldy Stewart and my name the honor
that I felt. I was never so honored, never so
humbled in my life, and he.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Thought nothing of it. I was happy to do it.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
First off, he made sure that my paper was done
appropriately for what they wanted to do, because I've never
written free paper, especially to deliver to this audience of
all the munkety MUCKs in the free world for an
emergency medicine, and to get it actually get published.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
And the hand me his book and said here, because
you keep.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Saying that's a great memory, Wes, I just I didn't
know how to act.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
I really didn't, and the humbling experience was just to bleep.
This was doctor Stuart.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
He had a big heart, no doubt about it. Unbelievable
the man.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
I've never met a man in my life of his
stature who was such a down to earth human being
and just so full of love and respect for other people.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Just wow.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
And I missed him when he left and went back
to Canada, and I'm still.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Warning for him now that he's in alonger with us.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
I just regret that I wasn't able to get up
the Nova Scotia to see him before that.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Dave, if you have a special memory you want to
share with us.
Speaker 5 (18:53):
Oh, so, like Wes said, I mean, there are so many,
but I'll be brief because this one was pretty short.
I recall after you know, our class was hired, and
like I said, it was a short time.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
We got promoted to paramedics. As e mts, we didn't
have a whole.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
Lot to direct dealing with any als, protocols or anything.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
So MD one, doctor.
Speaker 5 (19:18):
Stewart, was this person way up high on a pedestal,
you know, and coming from the suburbs. Your medical director
was somebody in an office and an er annex somewhere,
and you had to go there and you know, stand
and deliver that you knew your protocols and stuff. So
shortly after getting promoted, I was assigned to Medic four
(19:39):
and I remember working an evening shift and Rescue two
was in quarters with us at the time, and there
was a knock on a door. We went up and
answered it. It was you know, spring day, evening evening shift,
and there's doctor Stewart standing there, scrubs, long white lab coat,
you know, and he's he says, hey, do you guys
(20:02):
mind if I hang out for a.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Little while, come in. You know, it's in the evening.
It was a I believe it was a Friday evening.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
You know.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
I thought the city was busy, a lot of things
were happening, and you think, here's a guy who's on
staff in the er. Academically, this is a busy, busy person,
you know, with all all that he does, medical director
for the city, puts pre paramedics, and and now he
comes into the into the station and anybody that's been
(20:32):
into an old EMS station would realize that, you know
that these were pieces of furniture that.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Were found on the curb, the couches and the stuff.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
They're very comfortable, kind of a frat house feel, right,
And he just plops down and and starts to have
this session, engaging everyone as the teacher that he that
he was, and as Wes said, you know, treated you
as an equal, and the education of that couple hours
(21:05):
spent at Medical four's crew quarters, you know, understanding what
we do.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
In the field, being part of us. I believe we
got a call and he said, hey, I'll just come
on the call with you. He jumps in the back.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Of the medic unit, you know, and we went handled
whatever the call was, came back to the station.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
But that whole time you.
Speaker 5 (21:28):
Felt like you were in a in a one on
one education environment with Socrates. I mean it was it
was really impressive because you hold this person in such
high regard and the knowledge that they have impressive but
(21:51):
that they brought it to you and at your level.
And I just felt that that was what a leader,
a medical director, you know, a person should do. Obviously,
he went wanted to make sure that the paramedics that
were operating under his license were capable, knowledgeable, and skillful
(22:17):
in doing the procedures that were entrusted to us. But
he also wanted to interact with us at a personal level.
And I think that's really the memory that stands out
the most. Everything from everything beyond that is academic educational
(22:42):
teaching environments and you know, seeing him back and forth
in the er between calls and such, but to actually
show up at the station sit down, and that.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Was not unique. That was his trademark thing.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
Many crews had that same rich experience, and I will
say of all the medical directors that I've served with,
he was the only one who went to that extent.
Many of the residents would come out and you would
develop a relationship with a lot of the residents.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Because you worked much closer with them.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
They were doing the field work and so they were
alongside the paramedic units and crews a lot more. But
as the medical director to come out to the cruise
and to be at that level I think was very
telling about his involvement and passion for this.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Profession.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
I'll give you real quick stories. One as I taught
at the center as well and interacted with him of
course when I was working a medic five and always
had good interaction with him in the emergency room as
well in training and talking to him, and in the center.
I remember his small office in the ball always so nice.
But so that's really a sub story. But after I
(24:04):
left the city of Pittsburgh a few years later, I
was at a conference that he was there. It was
one hundred and forty, one hundred and twenty paramedics. But
he saw me and he said, Hi, Steve, how are you?
I mean, how did he remember me? So that just
hit me. It was so sweet that he remembered. And
(24:25):
that's one thing about one of his other traits. He
always called you by your first name, and he remembered me,
which I thought was so special. And then the second
one was as I said earlier, that he was you know,
when he went to Canada, he was only a few
people probably had his phone number and conversations with him.
But I was able to wiggle an email and asked
(24:48):
him to come on my podcast, and it took about
six months. He did respond and he came on my podcast.
Do you remember so much about me? That just that
and how much he remembered about me? It just he
was just a wonderful human being. One he always knew
(25:10):
your name, and he always remembered you. And even because
it was a long time before we interacted after that conference,
until we came on my podcast, and his memories of
you know, medic five and me were just spectacular. And
I echo your words, your thoughts and memories is that
he was just a visionary. He was legendary, and he
(25:30):
was such a nice person. I'm always touched on how
he remembered me and how he was just all right
moving on before I started to tear up a little bit.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
He just wasn't a leader in medicine. He played a
role in how ems was introduced to the public. As
we all know. He was a consultant on the show Emergency,
which you did talk on my podcast with him. He
introduced millions of people to what the paramedic system looked
like and probably for the first time, I know, this
(26:01):
is kind of a softball question. But did you watch
the show back then? And did you ever feel like
like his influence how the public saws as medics? Did
he always think we were Johnny and Roy? What do
you guys think about that? Wes? Why don't you go
ahead start? Oh, without a doubt.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
And on the side thing, here's something that you might
find interesting. And I'm hopefully your listener as will. And
I found this out a long time ago, and I
got this from very reliable source. When Peter Saffer first
developed para medicine had pit and for those who don't
really recall it with Peter Saffer was he's actually the
(26:40):
father of CPR, but he was one of the original
pioneers along with doctor to a point even predating doctor Stewart.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
But he developed basic para medicine.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
And of course since he was the University of Pittsburgh,
he says, we went better place to take it to
than the city, and he managed.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
To arrange a meeting with the.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
Mayor and the fire chief at the time. The fire
chief was Tom Canel, and I vaguely knew Canelly. He
was extremely old school and very parochial in his views
about fire service back then, and we're talking very early
(27:23):
into the nineteen seventies. So here Saffer has his presentation
about how he could turn a bunch of firefighters into
emergency medical technicians with advanced skills. And he did his
presentation in the Mayor's office, And the story I got
was that Canelly stopped at the end and looked at him,
(27:45):
looked at the mayor and said, my guard, my guys
aren't any eff and ambulance drivers, and walked.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Out of the room.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
We Sacer was defeated as far as the city goes,
ended up taking it out to Los Angeles County, where
things were more progressive in some respects out there and
the rest of history. But as far as doctor Stewart
goes to him, we were all at the very least Johnny.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
And boy Dave, you wan't add anything.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
Well, yeah, going to the original question, I admit I'm
guilty of as a youth watching emergency and thinking, Wow,
what an exciting, interesting career that would be. I didn't
draw the parallel at the time, or the connection, I
should say, at the time of doctor Stewart to the program.
(28:36):
It wasn't until I got hired by the City of
Pittsburgh and got to know who doctor Stewart is and
his connection to the show that as a youth I
religiously watched, thinking maybe someday I would be a paramedic.
Even when I attended out of high school I attended
the University of Pittsburgh for engineering, just seeing the city
(28:58):
trucks rolling, you know, rolling up and down Fifth Avenue
through campus and thinking, you know, that that really is
the job I think I want to go for. I
think this engineering thing is not the right thing. And
then switching my my career choice from a you know,
from an office dwelling engineer to a street dwelling.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Aromatic was the right choice. But I do feel that
emergency had a strong influence with that.
Speaker 5 (29:27):
And then once once I got hired by the city
and got to learn about doctor Stewart and that connection,
I felt like the thing had come full circle, that
had been drawn drawn.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
To it, and that.
Speaker 5 (29:42):
His influence on that television show is It was only
a television show, but I got to do what those
guys pretended to do, and I think that was a
very strong point of satisfaction to me.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
Without a doct There's another interesting little tidbit.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Two shows back in.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
The very early nineteen seventies were and it's been proven
through data, through surveys, through conversations, through podcasts, that were
instrumental in recruiting people into careers. One was Emergency, bringing
people into the branding realm and emergency medical services, and
(30:26):
the other was Adam twelve for police work. And it's
been proven that both those shows actually increased recruiting and
an Emergencies case actually put the seeds in putting EMS
systems at various parts of the country, one of the
first being Seattle, right.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
And I will tell you that Emergency influenced me and
that's how I got into the world of EMS. And
it actually started because my dad had a heart attack.
He was at Presby and he was in the step
down unit and Ed Brinkley was an EMT at Swissfel.
Dad knew I was struggling with school. He goes to
(31:09):
Ed and says, my son likes to show Emergency. I
know you're an emergency medical technician because my dad always
talked to everybody. That's how my career started. Because my
dad does conversation with Ed and telling him that I
love the show Emergency, and he knew Ed was an
EMT and one thing led to another and that's where
(31:30):
I started my career in EMS was at swissfel So.
Emergency had a big influence. And when I talked to
Ron about Emergency and his influence, he really shies away
from that. They wanted to give him writing and an
executive producer credit and he refused it as well. He
said he knew somebody that was helping out on the show.
(31:53):
They came to him to look at some scripts and
that's how it led him into how I got involved
in emergency. But he didn't really like to talk about that.
I want to talk more about it when I was
talking to him, and he just gave me a little
bit about it and then we had to move on.
But yeah, I think that Emergency had a big influence
on a lot of us as well, and I wish,
just like you, Dave, I wish I could have picked
(32:16):
his brain a little bit more about that when we
were working with him as colleagues. Same thing when you
know West brought up earlier about Freedom House. I regret
not talking to those medics that I worked with that
were a Freedom House more than I did, and knowing
what that influence had on the city of Pittsburgh and
EMS in general. So those are two things that I
(32:38):
wish I could have back a little bit as well.
I guess some closing thoughts were for me. It was
that he just wasn't just a doctor. He was a mentor.
He was a leader and someone who shaped the future
of emergency medical service, especially here in the city of Pittsburgh.
His fluence probably can be seen in every paramedic and
every protocol and every life saved because of the advancements
(33:02):
of research that he championed. How about a clothing thought
about doctor Stuart West.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
There are so many words, you know, we're all three
of us that were on all these different words trying
to describe, but I don't believe any of them.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Were accurate or accurate enough.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
He's one of those people that came along once in
a lifetime, maybe once in multiple lifetimes, a person that
influenced an entire you could say, essentially influence an entire industry,
and not just the industry, but influence the people in it.
And how many people in this world, how many people
(33:42):
throughout history and even into the future, that we have
no clue yet could make that claim if they were
if they had to you were so enough to actually
make the claim. Yeah, and that's you've talked about the
business with the credits for emergency. Doctor Stuart declined nomadically.
That's tomb a gentleman he was through Joe, and.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
He's the type.
Speaker 4 (34:07):
He was a person that just essentially, doctor Ronald D. Stewart,
he left a legacy of such a broad scope that
will be here forever. And how many people of this
world could ever make that claim in a positive way?
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Dave. Final thoughts, I think.
Speaker 5 (34:30):
To echo on something that you had said, Steve. You know,
there are many wonderful traits about doctor Stewart, and many
of them are very personal to each one of us
who have had the opportunity to interact with him as
a colleague professionally.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
But I think the thing that will you know, always
echo in my mind again was how.
Speaker 5 (34:58):
He had this ability to see somebody after a period
of time, and like you said, on a first name basis,
I remember him coming back to the University of Pittsburgh
for a I can't remember with the some sort of
an affair of you know, an award or something. He
came back to the University of Pittsburgh in the early
(35:19):
two thousands, and it was at Heinz Chapel and it
hadn't seen him in probably more than a decade or
more since he since he left, but he knew everybody
by first name, and he would say, you know, he
came up, Dave, how are you So that that ability
that it wasn't doctor to paramedic or even period of
(35:43):
peer it was it was like a friend. And even
though there had been a gap of time since seeing him,
there was there was this familiarity, like you just talked
to him last week, and it was he knew about you,
had questions, you know, Howard's how's this going, how's that going?
(36:04):
So he was really in tune with the person, not
just as a as a leader to subordinates or a
doctor over paramedics.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
It was person to person.
Speaker 5 (36:17):
And so I think that's that's what will always everybody
will would echo that.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
I don't believe that that would be a unique thing.
I think that's very common for.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Doctor Stuart David West. Thank you, thank you, thank you,
and thank you for sharing your memories and helping us
on our Doctor Stewart today. I really appreciate it. I
hope you enjoyed this podcast. Look for more coming on
Doctor Stewart in the near future. Thanks Dave, Thanks Wes.
Come up, co Mike getting attention.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
All listeners on this frequency stand by for an important announcement.
Welcome to Medic to Medic podcast, the weekly podcast for
EMS providers, EMS leaders, EMS, medical directors and others involved
in or those who have an interest in emergency medical services.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Ladies and gentlemen, here's your host, Steve.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Cohen, coming from the Ferndale Medical Medic Podcast Studios. Hi,
it's another special edition of Medical medic Podcasts where I'm
going to bring you some stories from the city of
Pittsburgh and talking about memories with doctor Stewart. Of course,
I am your host. You can reach me at Medical
(00:49):
Medic Podcasts at gmail dot com and today's episode, as
I said, as a special one as we remember and
celebrate the legacy of doctor Ronald Stewart. He just wasn't
a leader in EMS. He was a visionary who helped
shape emergency medicine as we know it today, from his
work in Pittsburgh to his influence in medical education and
even Hollywood. His impact was far reaching. Joining me today
(01:12):
are too retired City of Pittsburgh paramedics Dave Naples and
West Notovitz, both of them who experienced firsthand the evolution
of EMS and Pittsburgh and the lasting impact of doctor
Ronald Stewart. David Wes, Welcome to Medical medic Podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Thanks for having us, Steve, Thank you, Steve.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
It's good to catch up with Dave and Wes. Wes
was working for the city Pittsburgh when I got hired,
and Dave and I got hired together back when in
the early eighties, and we were reminiscing a little bit
about our lives since then as well. Before we get
to talk about doctor Stewart, let's set the scene for
our listeners. Pittsburgh MESS has always been a strong, strong reputation,
(01:52):
but things were very different when you both started. Can
you take us back, good Wes, you can start, yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
I got hired in August of nineteen seventy seven. Back then,
the EMS system in Pittsburgh had.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Only about a year.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Or so before transitioned over from the original Freedom House Ambulance, which,
for those that aren't familiar, was one of the pioneer
services in what became modern EMS anywhere in the country
and to some degree in the world. It was started
as a minority hiring program in the African American community
(02:35):
and morphed into so much more. And doctor Stewart wasn't
involved initially, but he.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Came in in.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
The very late nineteen seventies or nineteen eighty and completely
changed everything.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
It was unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
The description you gave about doctor Stewarts the doesn't even
do him justice. The man was way beyond a visionary.
He was an unbelievable human being. He helped the shape
emergency medicine worldwide, emergency pre hospital care, and for us
to have been such an integral part of that was
(03:17):
such an honor.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It's amazing things he did for me. The memories, they
just stay with you.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yeah, we'll get it. We'll get into those memories further
down in the podcast. Dave, how about you when you
first got to the city of Pittsburgh and joined.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
Well, Steve, As you said, we got hired together in
the early eighties and Pittsburgh MS was doing some novel
experiments with trying staffing. As you know, our class, even
though the majority of us were already certified paramedics, we
got hired as EMTs as a first iteration of trying
(03:54):
to build a two tiered system that would be more
flexible to send the right level of training to the
right responses.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
So it was an interesting time to come in. We
were the first.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
Class of EMTs, but I think some of our colleagues
who became our partners and friends that were paramedics at
that time were kind of.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Frightened or scared of what this may.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
Portend for their future and ALS in the city. But
the director at the time, Glenn Cannon, I think he
had a vision and knew he wanted to enhance the
amount of units on the streets and designed that EMT
program so that they would eventually become paramedics. And within
(04:41):
two years those units had transitioned from EMT or BLS.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Units to ALS units. So it was.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Again Pittsburgh being a very innovative system, was trying to
do a lot of new things to enhance.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
The delivery of care.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
And Doctor Stewart at the time when we got hired
was the medical director MD one, and that I think
fit well with his program of keeping Pittsburgh on the
forefront trying new and innovative ideas. And then as we
get into talking about more of our relationship and how
(05:21):
we interacted with our physician staff, well get into more
about doctor Stewart here in a few minutes.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I guess, yeah, absolutely, I guess. One of the questions
I kind of wanted to get you both to kind
of elaborate on, is who was doctor Stewart. He was known,
as Wes said earlier, as a visionary and an innovator,
and as well as a mentor to so many in
emergency medicine and EMS. Before we get into maybe some
personal stories that you had interacting with doctor Stewart, let's
(05:52):
set the stage. What was it about doctor Stewart that
made him such a defining figure in the EMS. Dave,
we'll start with you.
Speaker 5 (05:59):
I think if I were to reflect on that, I
think it was his passion for patient care and for
the delivery of the best quality of medicine.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
It didn't matter to him. I think, whether you know
whether it was.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
In the clinical setting, in the hospital or in the streets,
I believe his passion truly was and you know, a
patient advocate for the highest quality patient care, and as
an educator too, as a teacher.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
That's how I feel was his best qualities.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Wes, same question start out as I have to absolutely
pair it with Dave just said he covered that part
very eloquently. Another thing was and it was something that
always impressed me, and I've never experienced it anywhere else
with anyone else. And I've been still I've been any
(06:57):
of us educators since the eighties.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
I still do. I teach the Coastguard.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
Doctor Stewart always considered us calleagues. Now here's a man
with his doctorate, all of this education, all this expertise,
are a worldwide reputation as an emergency physician and educator,
and he considered us his calleagues. And I'll never forget
(07:27):
once we were doing something and he.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Said that, you know, you're my callingues.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
And I was like, taking aback, and it's like and
he looked at me and it's like, yeah, you're my callingues.
And that that probably impressed me on a personal end
more than anything else about the man is the fact
that he didn't consider us lesser because we didn't have
the education for the background that he had to him.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
We were all on the same playing field.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
And he treated everybody like and I think that's one
of the reasons why he was always so successful with
what he did.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So I think one of the incredible traits that he
had that made him stand out, just not as a
medical leadership as medical leadership, but as a person, and
that's what I thought made him stand out. And the
other thing, you know, just talking about his innovation, he
always liked to do research, He always liked to write.
I used his monographs on a pretty regular basis when
(08:28):
I was in school working on my degree. But he
also said, I think one of the things that a
lot of people might not even talk about is that
he was probably the pioneer on letting paramedics in debate.
Right back then it was always the EOA. He said,
no paramedics can in debate, and that is something that
(08:51):
I know that at least on our crew at Medic five,
is always who's going to get to do. Of course,
Chuck was the key of and always the indbator, and
there was always a fight between him and Mike and
I trying to see who would get the tube or so.
But I thought his airway education knowledge and getting paramedics
(09:11):
and in debate was a big innovation for EMS, just
not in Pittsburgh, but all over. Dave, do you have
any thoughts on that.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Well, when it comes to innovation, I completely echon to that.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
I think that when I first got to Pittsburgh MS,
I noticed that all the crews, I mean no matter
where across the city or didn't matter which line you know,
of shift you were working on. One of those skills
(09:40):
that everybody took at immense amount of pride in was
that the City of Pittsburgh paramedics indicate their patients I
mean when appropriate, obviously.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
But working on the e MT trucks, we would.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
Often back up the medic units and so you get
to work with a variety of them. You know, in
those first year or two until we got promoted, and
every car ack arrest where Bruce would like you say,
fight over who could get the tube, and it was
always done quickly, very quickly, compared to maybe some of
(10:12):
the suburban services that didn't get the frequency of the
calls or they didn't have the quality of the training
that we had from doctor Stewart. I think everybody it
was very confident in their abilities to handle a difficult airway,
to pass a tube effectively, and to confirm its location.
(10:35):
And you know that that kind of aggressive als care
was the was the standard for Pittsburgh MS and I
think that was a direct result of doctor Stewart's advocating
that an advanced airway was what was necessary for patients
that were an extremis You needed to be able to
control that airway and you know, give them that shot
(10:57):
at being resuscitated or making sure that they didn't deteriorate
from hypoxias.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You won't add anything.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Yeah, absolutely, again to Pairent everything Dave said. But one
of the things that people have to realize too is
the fact that not only was this a pioneering thing
to do outside of a hospital setting, the amount of
blowback and criticism the doctor Stewart endured and also the
(11:25):
m docs worked under him. As a result, the people
in the medical community that felt that he was wrong,
that we had no business doing that. The only people
that should do that are physicians that are well trained
in an emergency room setting, were anesthesiologists.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
We had no business.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Doing endotracheal innovation, especially in the field.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
And it was relenting.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
The objections that he received were relented, but he proved it.
He stood asked, and his faith in us never waved.
And yes, there were that rare, undetected esophageal innovation that
didn't get found in the field. That happened once in
a very very very very blue moon, and other things
(12:18):
that happened which could happen in the emergency room, but
it didn't phase it.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
If somebody got caught with an.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Esophageal innovation, it reported they were mediated.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
It didn't happen again.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
And it was so such a rare occurrence as to
be inconsequential. But of course to the naysayers one was
a big deal and they made big deals out of it.
But he never wavered. And because of that, look where
ums is today.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Look at the innovations of the lighted skylet too now
using video, right, I mean, and all because the so
he might not get all that credit, but if he
doesn't start that, letting paramedics in debate and doing research,
letting us and then the delighted style into other innovations,
you know, probably wouldn't have video larreon Goscoviy today. I
(13:14):
think he deserves that credit. Let's talk about a particular
moment where maybe you saw his influence firsthand, or you
had an interaction or ay or favorite memory of doctor Stewart.
Go ahead, Wes, we'll start with you.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
There was a lot of them, but the one that
stood out most that he showed me.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
The true metal of what he was as.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
A teacher, a mentor, and actually as a friend because
he considered us all friends more so than anything else.
And that was amazing. The man loved us. I mean, Dave,
I'm sure you agree, and it just it was. Back
in nineteen eighty we were all part a bunch of us,
(14:02):
not all of us, but a bunch of us were
involved with him on a more intimate level at the
Center for Emergency Medicine with something called the med Exchange Program,
and we did we had the opportunity to do whereas
nowadays you do podcasts, back then you do a recording
that you call on the phone and you could listen
to a brief educational tape.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Well, he had me and a couple other people.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
Who wanted to do it. We were doing these educational tapes.
Others were doing helping with research products. There was maybe
about a dozen of us that were willing to put
in the extra time and work with him over on
Offer Street at the Center. And what we got as
a reward in nineteen eighty there was the world's first
(14:50):
brief congress and pre hospital care that was held in Brighton, England.
And if you don't know where Brighton is, it's on
the north coast of England on the English Channel, right
across from France. Say Brighton is actually a tourist, not
unlike Atlantic City or Wildwood here in the States. He
(15:11):
was able to convince the University of Pittsburgh for all
of us on the med Exchange program that we're putting
in time to pay our total expenses to go to
this congress in England. That's round trip international airfare, our hotel,
the conference fees, everything but some of our meals was
(15:32):
paid for by the university. And that was amazing. Then
he went a step further and he said, any of
us that were involved in the program that we're going,
of course, there were going to be lectures, and there
was going to be something called free papers, and that's
where you kind of just write. You write a paper
and you deliver it probally to the Congress, to everybody
(15:54):
at Stare from all over the world. And there were
doctors and nantas, all kinds of people in the medical
community that were heavily involved in.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Pre hospital care throughout the world that we're going to
be at this event. And I wrote the.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Paper, and the title of the paper I wrote was
our physicians necessary and meeting. Aren't they necessary in the streets.
I delivered this paper to doctor Stuart and he said,
once you get the papers done, given to me. He
had a deadline because he wanted to get ever anything
done well before.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
We went to the airport. And next thing I know,
I get the paper back.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
It had been completely redone with footnotes, and I mean
I never expected he would go that far.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
And he said it's on the schedule. I submitted it.
I said wow.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
So we went to England, had an unbelievable experience over
an area airport several days, and I delivered my paper
to come to find out after the fact. One day,
doctor Stewart approaches me. I was in the center. He says,
I have something for you.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
I said. Once that. He hands me this book. Well,
here the free papers got published, so here I am.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
He can't pay the bookmarked. I opened it up and
I started this book to put away for safe keeping.
The paper Doctor Roaldy Stewart and my name the honor
that I felt. I was never so honored, never so
humbled in my life, and he.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Thought nothing of it. I was happy to do it.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
First off, he made sure that my paper was done
appropriately for what they wanted to do, because I've never
written free paper, especially to deliver to this audience of
all the munkety MUCKs in the free world for an
emergency medicine, and to get it actually get published.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
And the hand me his book and said here, because
you keep.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Saying that's a great memory, Wes, I just I didn't
know how to act.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
I really didn't, and the humbling experience was just to bleep.
This was doctor Stuart.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
He had a big heart, no doubt about it. Unbelievable
the man.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
I've never met a man in my life of his
stature who was such a down to earth human being
and just so full of love and respect for other people.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Just wow.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
And I missed him when he left and went back
to Canada, and I'm still.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Warning for him now that he's in alonger with us.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
I just regret that I wasn't able to get up
the Nova Scotia to see him before that.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Dave, if you have a special memory you want to
share with us.
Speaker 5 (18:53):
Oh, so, like Wes said, I mean, there are so many,
but I'll be brief because this one was pretty short.
I recall after you know, our class was hired, and
like I said, it was a short time.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
We got promoted to paramedics. As e mts, we didn't
have a whole.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
Lot to direct dealing with any als, protocols or anything.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
So MD one, doctor.
Speaker 5 (19:18):
Stewart, was this person way up high on a pedestal,
you know, and coming from the suburbs. Your medical director
was somebody in an office and an er annex somewhere,
and you had to go there and you know, stand
and deliver that you knew your protocols and stuff. So
shortly after getting promoted, I was assigned to Medic four
(19:39):
and I remember working an evening shift and Rescue two
was in quarters with us at the time, and there
was a knock on a door. We went up and
answered it. It was you know, spring day, evening evening shift,
and there's doctor Stewart standing there, scrubs, long white lab coat,
you know, and he's he says, hey, do you guys
(20:02):
mind if I hang out for a.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Little while, come in. You know, it's in the evening.
It was a I believe it was a Friday evening.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
You know.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
I thought the city was busy, a lot of things
were happening, and you think, here's a guy who's on
staff in the er. Academically, this is a busy, busy person,
you know, with all all that he does, medical director
for the city, puts pre paramedics, and and now he
comes into the into the station and anybody that's been
(20:32):
into an old EMS station would realize that, you know
that these were pieces of furniture that.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Were found on the curb, the couches and the stuff.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
They're very comfortable, kind of a frat house feel, right,
And he just plops down and and starts to have
this session, engaging everyone as the teacher that he that
he was, and as Wes said, you know, treated you
as an equal, and the education of that couple hours
(21:05):
spent at Medical four's crew quarters, you know, understanding what
we do.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
In the field, being part of us. I believe we
got a call and he said, hey, I'll just come
on the call with you. He jumps in the back.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Of the medic unit, you know, and we went handled
whatever the call was, came back to the station.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
But that whole time you.
Speaker 5 (21:28):
Felt like you were in a in a one on
one education environment with Socrates. I mean it was it
was really impressive because you hold this person in such
high regard and the knowledge that they have impressive but
(21:51):
that they brought it to you and at your level.
And I just felt that that was what a leader,
a medical director, you know, a person should do. Obviously,
he went wanted to make sure that the paramedics that
were operating under his license were capable, knowledgeable, and skillful
(22:17):
in doing the procedures that were entrusted to us. But
he also wanted to interact with us at a personal level.
And I think that's really the memory that stands out
the most. Everything from everything beyond that is academic educational
(22:42):
teaching environments and you know, seeing him back and forth
in the er between calls and such, but to actually
show up at the station sit down, and that.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Was not unique. That was his trademark thing.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
Many crews had that same rich experience, and I will
say of all the medical directors that I've served with,
he was the only one who went to that extent.
Many of the residents would come out and you would
develop a relationship with a lot of the residents.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Because you worked much closer with them.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
They were doing the field work and so they were
alongside the paramedic units and crews a lot more. But
as the medical director to come out to the cruise
and to be at that level I think was very
telling about his involvement and passion for this.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Profession.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
I'll give you real quick stories. One as I taught
at the center as well and interacted with him of
course when I was working a medic five and always
had good interaction with him in the emergency room as
well in training and talking to him, and in the center.
I remember his small office in the ball always so nice.
But so that's really a sub story. But after I
(24:04):
left the city of Pittsburgh a few years later, I
was at a conference that he was there. It was
one hundred and forty, one hundred and twenty paramedics. But
he saw me and he said, Hi, Steve, how are you?
I mean, how did he remember me? So that just
hit me. It was so sweet that he remembered. And
(24:25):
that's one thing about one of his other traits. He
always called you by your first name, and he remembered me,
which I thought was so special. And then the second
one was as I said earlier, that he was you know,
when he went to Canada, he was only a few
people probably had his phone number and conversations with him.
But I was able to wiggle an email and asked
(24:48):
him to come on my podcast, and it took about
six months. He did respond and he came on my podcast.
Do you remember so much about me? That just that
and how much he remembered about me? It just he
was just a wonderful human being. One he always knew
(25:10):
your name, and he always remembered you. And even because
it was a long time before we interacted after that conference,
until we came on my podcast, and his memories of
you know, medic five and me were just spectacular. And
I echo your words, your thoughts and memories is that
he was just a visionary. He was legendary, and he
(25:30):
was such a nice person. I'm always touched on how
he remembered me and how he was just all right
moving on before I started to tear up a little bit.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
He just wasn't a leader in medicine. He played a
role in how ems was introduced to the public. As
we all know. He was a consultant on the show Emergency,
which you did talk on my podcast with him. He
introduced millions of people to what the paramedic system looked
like and probably for the first time, I know, this
(26:01):
is kind of a softball question. But did you watch
the show back then? And did you ever feel like
like his influence how the public saws as medics? Did
he always think we were Johnny and Roy? What do
you guys think about that? Wes? Why don't you go
ahead start? Oh, without a doubt.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
And on the side thing, here's something that you might
find interesting. And I'm hopefully your listener as will. And
I found this out a long time ago, and I
got this from very reliable source. When Peter Saffer first
developed para medicine had pit and for those who don't
really recall it with Peter Saffer was he's actually the
(26:40):
father of CPR, but he was one of the original
pioneers along with doctor to a point even predating doctor Stewart.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
But he developed basic para medicine.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
And of course since he was the University of Pittsburgh,
he says, we went better place to take it to
than the city, and he managed.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
To arrange a meeting with the.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
Mayor and the fire chief at the time. The fire
chief was Tom Canel, and I vaguely knew Canelly. He
was extremely old school and very parochial in his views
about fire service back then, and we're talking very early
(27:23):
into the nineteen seventies. So here Saffer has his presentation
about how he could turn a bunch of firefighters into
emergency medical technicians with advanced skills. And he did his
presentation in the Mayor's office, And the story I got
was that Canelly stopped at the end and looked at him,
(27:45):
looked at the mayor and said, my guard, my guys
aren't any eff and ambulance drivers, and walked.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Out of the room.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
We Sacer was defeated as far as the city goes,
ended up taking it out to Los Angeles County, where
things were more progressive in some respects out there and
the rest of history. But as far as doctor Stewart
goes to him, we were all at the very least Johnny.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
And boy Dave, you wan't add anything.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
Well, yeah, going to the original question, I admit I'm
guilty of as a youth watching emergency and thinking, Wow,
what an exciting, interesting career that would be. I didn't
draw the parallel at the time, or the connection, I
should say, at the time of doctor Stewart to the program.
(28:36):
It wasn't until I got hired by the City of
Pittsburgh and got to know who doctor Stewart is and
his connection to the show that as a youth I
religiously watched, thinking maybe someday I would be a paramedic.
Even when I attended out of high school I attended
the University of Pittsburgh for engineering, just seeing the city
(28:58):
trucks rolling, you know, rolling up and down Fifth Avenue
through campus and thinking, you know, that that really is
the job I think I want to go for. I
think this engineering thing is not the right thing. And
then switching my my career choice from a you know,
from an office dwelling engineer to a street dwelling.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Aromatic was the right choice. But I do feel that
emergency had a strong influence with that.
Speaker 5 (29:27):
And then once once I got hired by the city
and got to learn about doctor Stewart and that connection,
I felt like the thing had come full circle, that
had been drawn drawn.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
To it, and that.
Speaker 5 (29:42):
His influence on that television show is It was only
a television show, but I got to do what those
guys pretended to do, and I think that was a
very strong point of satisfaction to me.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
Without a doct There's another interesting little tidbit.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Two shows back in.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
The very early nineteen seventies were and it's been proven
through data, through surveys, through conversations, through podcasts, that were
instrumental in recruiting people into careers. One was Emergency, bringing
people into the branding realm and emergency medical services, and
(30:26):
the other was Adam twelve for police work. And it's
been proven that both those shows actually increased recruiting and
an Emergencies case actually put the seeds in putting EMS
systems at various parts of the country, one of the
first being Seattle, right.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
And I will tell you that Emergency influenced me and
that's how I got into the world of EMS. And
it actually started because my dad had a heart attack.
He was at Presby and he was in the step
down unit and Ed Brinkley was an EMT at Swissfel.
Dad knew I was struggling with school. He goes to
(31:09):
Ed and says, my son likes to show Emergency. I
know you're an emergency medical technician because my dad always
talked to everybody. That's how my career started. Because my
dad does conversation with Ed and telling him that I
love the show Emergency, and he knew Ed was an
EMT and one thing led to another and that's where
(31:30):
I started my career in EMS was at swissfel So.
Emergency had a big influence. And when I talked to
Ron about Emergency and his influence, he really shies away
from that. They wanted to give him writing and an
executive producer credit and he refused it as well. He
said he knew somebody that was helping out on the show.
(31:53):
They came to him to look at some scripts and
that's how it led him into how I got involved
in emergency. But he didn't really like to talk about that.
I want to talk more about it when I was
talking to him, and he just gave me a little
bit about it and then we had to move on.
But yeah, I think that Emergency had a big influence
on a lot of us as well, and I wish,
just like you, Dave, I wish I could have picked
(32:16):
his brain a little bit more about that when we
were working with him as colleagues. Same thing when you
know West brought up earlier about Freedom House. I regret
not talking to those medics that I worked with that
were a Freedom House more than I did, and knowing
what that influence had on the city of Pittsburgh and
EMS in general. So those are two things that I
(32:38):
wish I could have back a little bit as well.
I guess some closing thoughts were for me. It was
that he just wasn't just a doctor. He was a mentor.
He was a leader and someone who shaped the future
of emergency medical service, especially here in the city of Pittsburgh.
His fluence probably can be seen in every paramedic and
every protocol and every life saved because of the advancements
(33:02):
of research that he championed. How about a clothing thought
about doctor Stuart West.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
There are so many words, you know, we're all three
of us that were on all these different words trying
to describe, but I don't believe any of them.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Were accurate or accurate enough.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
He's one of those people that came along once in
a lifetime, maybe once in multiple lifetimes, a person that
influenced an entire you could say, essentially influence an entire industry,
and not just the industry, but influence the people in it.
And how many people in this world, how many people
(33:42):
throughout history and even into the future, that we have
no clue yet could make that claim if they were
if they had to you were so enough to actually
make the claim. Yeah, and that's you've talked about the
business with the credits for emergency. Doctor Stuart declined nomadically.
That's tomb a gentleman he was through Joe, and.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
He's the type.
Speaker 4 (34:07):
He was a person that just essentially, doctor Ronald D. Stewart,
he left a legacy of such a broad scope that
will be here forever. And how many people of this
world could ever make that claim in a positive way?
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Dave. Final thoughts, I think.
Speaker 5 (34:30):
To echo on something that you had said, Steve. You know,
there are many wonderful traits about doctor Stewart, and many
of them are very personal to each one of us
who have had the opportunity to interact with him as
a colleague professionally.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
But I think the thing that will you know, always
echo in my mind again was how.
Speaker 5 (34:58):
He had this ability to see somebody after a period
of time, and like you said, on a first name basis,
I remember him coming back to the University of Pittsburgh
for a I can't remember with the some sort of
an affair of you know, an award or something. He
came back to the University of Pittsburgh in the early
(35:19):
two thousands, and it was at Heinz Chapel and it
hadn't seen him in probably more than a decade or
more since he since he left, but he knew everybody
by first name, and he would say, you know, he
came up, Dave, how are you So that that ability
that it wasn't doctor to paramedic or even period of
(35:43):
peer it was it was like a friend. And even
though there had been a gap of time since seeing him,
there was there was this familiarity, like you just talked
to him last week, and it was he knew about you,
had questions, you know, Howard's how's this going, how's that going?
(36:04):
So he was really in tune with the person, not
just as a as a leader to subordinates or a
doctor over paramedics.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
It was person to person.
Speaker 5 (36:17):
And so I think that's that's what will always everybody
will would echo that.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
I don't believe that that would be a unique thing.
I think that's very common for.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Doctor Stuart David West. Thank you, thank you, thank you,
and thank you for sharing your memories and helping us
on our Doctor Stewart today. I really appreciate it. I
hope you enjoyed this podcast. Look for more coming on
Doctor Stewart in the near future. Thanks Dave, Thanks Wes.
Popular Podcasts
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!