A Thousand Naked Strangers: A Paramedic’s Wild Ride to the Edge and Back by Kevin M. Hazzard (Epub)

Description

A former paramedic’s visceral, poignant, and mordantly funny account of a decade spent on Atlanta’s mean streets saving lives and connecting with the drama and occasional beauty that lies inside catastrophe.

In the aftermath of 9/11 Kevin Hazzard felt that something was missing from his life—his days were too safe, too routine. A failed salesman turned local reporter, he wanted to test himself, see how he might respond to pressure and danger. He signed up for emergency medical training and became, at age twenty-six, a newly minted EMT running calls in the worst sections of Atlanta. His life entered a different realm—one of blood, violence, and amazing grace.

Thoroughly intimidated at first and frequently terrified, he experienced on a nightly basis the adrenaline rush of walking into chaos. But in his downtime, Kevin reflected on how people’s facades drop away when catastrophe strikes. As his hours on the job piled up, he realized he was beginning to see into the truth of things. There is no pretense five beats into a chest compression, or in an alley next to a crack den, or on a dimly lit highway where cars have collided. Eventually, what had at first seemed impossible happened: Kevin acquired mastery. And in the process he was able to discern the professional differences between his freewheeling peers, what marked each—as he termed them—as “a tourist,” “true believer,” or “killer.”

Combining indelible scenes that remind us of life’s fragile beauty with laugh-out-loud moments that keep us smiling through the worst, A Thousand Naked Strangers is an absorbing read about one man’s journey of self-discovery—a trip that also teaches us about ourselves.

User’s Reviews

Review “Action packed…With blunt language and a raw narrative tone rich with gruesome detail, Hazzard immerses readers in the bloody, hardened reality of an emergency response team racing to accident scenes….[Features] anecdotes both thrilling and startlingly gory…A vivid, pummeling ride along with an emergency paramedic.”—Kirkus Reviews “Readers should fasten their seatbelts for this wild ride with former paramedic Hazzard as he navigates Atlanta’s seedier side while tending to a memorable—and gory—array of patients…[his] unblinking view of chaos is not for weak stomachs, but it’s variously raw, poetic, and profoundly hopeful.”—Publishers Weekly “A thrilling, captivating, and sometimes grisly glimpse into what it takes to be a first responder in the city of Atlanta, Georgia. Hazzard’s prose is quick, witty, and fresh…This frank and morbidly funny memoir sheds light onto a sometimes forgotten area of medicine. From delivering babies to responding to cardiac arrest calls, paramedics have seen the extremes and everything in between. Hazzard takes readers on a wild and unforgettable ride.”—Booklist “A shocking, utterly compelling tour de force that shows the dark heart of an Atlanta that I never knew existed. Mr. Hazzard tells about his ten year career as an ambulance paramedic in a way that is both heart stopping and heart breaking. He writes in an elegant, low key style, racing from crimes scenes to fatal accidents to the birthing of babies. I couldn’t let the book go – it’s powerful enough to have turned me into an ambulance chaser in my own small South Carolina town, but it’s also very, very funny.”—Pat Conroy, New York Times bestselling author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini “Hazzard’s account of his decade long, dread and adrenaline drenched journey through Atlanta’s underbelly rises above the river of suffering he depicts with excruciating unrestraint. He observes keenly, remembers faithfully, but also struggles to analyze his motives for loving those crazy nights on the bad side of town when the universe slips a gear and all hell breaks loose. A Thousand Naked Strangers is a brilliant delineation of what attracted him to the madness of his underpaid, under appreciated paramedical work and why it ended.” —J. Michael Lennon, author of the authorized biography Norman Mailer: A Double Life “They find us in our streets, our back yards, our back bedrooms, carrying us out of our most desperate hour. No one has a closer view into our fearful hearts than the paramedic, and no one writes it like Kevin Hazzard. He’s given us a deep intimate portrait of the toll it takes to every day witness our most vulnerable moments. Some nights it’s the best job in the world, and some nights the worst, all in the same last breath.”—Joe Connelly, author of Bringing Out the Dead “A Thousand Naked Strangers puts you in the front seat with Hazzard and a churn of motley partners as they respond to a series of wild calls – ones more tragic and horrifying, but also more comical, than can be imagined. Hazzard excels at the small yet unforgettable details: what appears in the tread of his shoe, what scatters onto the floor of his ambulance. You’ll begin this journey as a guilty voyeur, seeing things you really shouldn’t, but, by the end, be transformed into a respectful witness of a remarkable profession.”—Katrina Firlik, author of Another Day in the Frontal Lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside “I had no idea that paramedics might be even sicker than the people they’re transporting! From one wild ride to the next, this insider’s tale of what really happens in the back of an emergency ambulance is as absorbing as it is revealing. Gifted with a reporter’s eye for detail and the wit and style of a bemused raconteur, Hazzard shows us what might happen if the medicos from ‘M.A.S.H’ were miraculously deposited on the set of ‘Homicide: Life on the Street.’”—Bob Drury, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Heart of Everything There Is and Last Men Out “A Thousand Naked Strangers is a voyeuristic ride along with a seasoned paramedic. Kevin Hazzard has an eye for Atlanta’s gritty detail – its true character and its true characters. Buckle up and prepare for an eye opening plunge into barely controlled chaos.”—Judy Melinek, M.D., coauthor with T.J. Mitchell of the New York Times bestseller Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner “Get ready to feel the gun slinging, God like power of running calls in the back of an ambulance. Here, you’ll learn what medics already know: along with the vibrators, maggots, crackheads, homeless shelters, and booby traps, it’s the madness that both wrings you out and is the job’s biggest turn on.”—Julie Holland, M.D., author of Weekends at Bellevue: Nine Years on the Night Shift at the Psych ER “Take a terrific writer and put him in tragic, frantic, emotional, heartbreaking and freaking situations for years – you get A Thousand Naked Strangers. Reading this book is like watching The Matrix. Hazzard slows down the chaos and danger to allow himself (and the reader) to experience it. A paramedic’s life is the closest thing to combat in the civilian world. To paraphrase a line in The Bridge at Toki Ri, ‘Where do we get these guys?’ This book is one long rush.”—Phillip Jennings, author of Nam a Rama and Goodbye Mexico “Open Kevin Hazzard’s excellent book and you might die laughing. You might also die of a broken heart. Or shock. Whatever, this writer will jolt you back to life with his sensational inside account of the world of emergency medical personnel. A Thousand Naked Strangers sends out a 911 call to readers…and those lucky enough to know these pages will never hear an ambulance siren the same way again.”—Charles McNair, author of the Pulitzer nominated Land O’Goshen and Pickett’s Charge “An unstoppable adrenaline rush with lyrical moments of truth and beauty. Hazzard’s unforgettable portraits of people in extremis, and the swaggering, sardonic, and ultimately courageous medics who take care of them, will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page of this hell for leather ride along.”—Theresa Brown, author of Critical Care: A New Nurse Faces Death, Life, and Everything in Between “A no holds barred look at what it’s really like in the trenches. A paramedic’s story of life and death and personal growth told from the back of an ambulance. Well worth the ride.”—Robert Lesslie, M.D., author of Miracles in the E.R.: Extraordinary Stories from a Doctor’s Journal “Action packed…With blunt language and a raw narrative tone rich with gruesome detail, Hazzard immerses readers in the bloody, hardened reality of an emergency response team racing to accident scenes….[Features] anecdotes both thrilling and startlingly gory…A vivid, pummeling ride along.”—Kirkus Reviews “Hazzard’s unblinking view of chaos is not for weak stomachs, but it’s variously raw, poetic, and profoundly hopeful.”—Publishers Weekly “A thrilling, captivating, and sometimes grisly glimpse into what it takes to be a first responder in the city of Atlanta. Hazzard’s prose is quick, witty, and fresh…This frank and morbidly funny memoir…takes readers on a wild and unforgettable ride.”—Booklist “A shocking, utterly compelling tour de force that shows the dark heart of an Atlanta that I never knew existed…I couldn’t let the book go—it’s powerful enough to have turned me into an ambulance chaser in my own small South Carolina town, but it’s also very, very funny.”—Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini “No one has a closer view into our fearful hearts than the paramedic, and no one writes it like Kevin Hazzard. He’s given us a deep intimate portrait of the toll it takes to every day witness our most vulnerable moments.”—Joe Connelly, author of Bringing Out the Dead “Hazzard observes keenly, remembers faithfully, but also struggles to analyze his motives for loving those crazy nights on the bad side of town when the universe slips a gear and all hell breaks loose.”—J.Michael Lennon, author of the authorized biography Norman Mailer “More tragic andhorrifying, but also more comical, than can be imagined.”—Katrina Firlik, author of Another Day in the Frontal Lobe “As absorbing as it is revealing.”—Bob Drury, coauthor of The Heart of Everything There Is “Buckle up and prepare for an eye opening plunge into barely controlled chaos.”—Judy Melinek, M.D., coauthor of Working Stiff “Get ready to feel the gun slinging, God like power of running calls in the back of an ambulance.”—Julie Holland, M.D., author of Weekends at Bellevue “Take a terrific writer and put him in tragic, frantic, emotional, heartbreaking and freaking situations for years—you get A Thousand Naked Strangers…This book is one long rush.”—Phillip Jennings, author of Nam a Rama and Goodbye Mexico “An unstoppable adrenaline rush with lyrical moments of truth and beauty.”—Theresa Brown, author of Critical Care

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ Kevin Hazzard has written an entertaining book about his experience as an EMT/Paramedic in the city of Atlanta, primarily at Grady Hospital. Hazzard was a Paramedic for 10 years and is also a Journalist. His talent for writing shows in his descriptions of medical calls and its effect on the patients as well as himself and his personal life. One can feel the change that comes over the author as he progresses in his career and gains more experience and becomes more jaded. In the beginning he admits he knows nothing , then it’s his partner who knows nothing and he has to guide him. Then he becomes experienced and has complaints about the Fire and Police Departments who he feels on occasion impede his patient care. Overall this was a good read that takes you on scene in the streets of Atlanta. I enjoyed his description of the EMS service he previously worked for prior to Grady Hospital as a “misfit circus” . There are many misfit situations in this book and if you like stories of street medicine in an urban environment, you will enjoy.

⭐ If King’s On Writing is the definitive must-read for authors, then Hazzard’s A Thousand Naked Strangers is the same for EMTs, paramedics, and anyone who wants to see a decade-long emergency medicine career from inception to burnout. Hilarious, touching, and often thought-provoking, A Thousand Naked Strangers follows a fledgling EMT through a series of cases so bizarre they have to be true. From the early days on a private bus to later days as part of Grady’s elite, nothing about Hazzard’s harrowing experiences will make you want to do this job (unless you’re an adrenaline junkie or that rare breed with whom medicine clicks). I hail from a fifteen year medical field career myself, having known my share of second-guessers, “tourists,” burnouts, and near-killers. A fantastic true-to-life telling of one of the most underappreciated occupations, I wish I could give A Thousand Naked Strangers ten stars. A must-read, can’t-put-it-down page-turner because though the author may have been a paramedic, he’s also one heck of a storyteller.

⭐ A Thousand Naked Strangers takes us through the author’s EMT training, the first nervous “rides”, patients, the importance of a good partner, paramedic training, and finally; the burn out.I did not know that a paramedic has much more training than an EMT. I didn’t know there is a difference until I read this book.The sometimes scary, sometimes dangerous rescues he and his partner went on were very interesting. I could read about those all day, week, and month.I am not sure anyone else would agree with this, but I think there was a little bit too much about the author and not enough about calls and patients. It was good to know why he realized he should quit and that he did quit as he might have started making mistakes, but maybe there was a little too much about his feelings. In some ways it is a very short book for a career of more than nine years, but in other ways too long.His wife sounds like an angel.

⭐ As a paramedic myself, I might be a little biased. Kevin Hazzard has written an engaging and illuminating memoir that takes the uninitiated behind the scenes of a 911 ambulance service. He also gives an honest look at some of the bigger challenges that face the profession, such as a chafing relationship with the fire department which can see good EMS providers crushed in the name of politics and face-saving, and the tragic state of disrepair that some nursing homes find themselves in. If you have ever wanted to go behind the doors of a speeding ambulance going lights and sirens, with the battle to snatch life from the jaws of death going on in the back, then this book would be a great place to start.

⭐ Interesting memoir with all kinds of personal insight, memories, attitude and crazy action. Sort of cohesive with tiny bits of tenderness that intrude into the gore,guts and gloom but missing the elements of EMS that many experience – that saving a life – no matter who’s – matters. The portrayal of Atlanta’s dark side is darker than any reality and having worked in a NE public hospital system I found that as well as the police/fire/ems relations disappointing. However it’s a worthwhile read.

⭐ Very entertaining, and well-written. His experience in journalism clearly shows. Having lived in Atlanta myself since 1992, I totally understood the references to Grady and the many slums and crack houses of the era. I read a million books and usually have about 600 in my wish list. I never ever write book reviews — but I’m making a point to say how much I enjoyed this book. If the topic interests you at all (and why else would you be checking reviews?), get this book.

⭐ I loved every second of this book! Kevin Hazzard really paints a picture with his words, he makes it easy for you to really be with him in that ambulance or on the street. Sometimes I could almost even smell what he was smelling. It was a FUN read, too. Bits of subtle humor mixed with gory details. I have much more respect for the men and women who are in this profession and respect for those who know when to walk away from it. I would rate this book a million stars if I could. It was a fast read, quick, short chapters and you really just won’t want to put it down. Order it TODAY!

⭐ Very well written. A great description of his ten years in a really challenging job. It’s the side of health care we almost never see or hear about.I am surprised that Mr. Hazzard lasted ten years, — everyone has his limit — but I imagine he survived much longer than most do. As a former critical care nurse, I understand the repetitive nature of the job, the exhaustion, and the burnout. But his job was made worse by having to deal with the lowest end of the humanity scale. Most jobs provide some periods of positivity and satisfaction. No doubt, his did too, but the reader is left with a lingering sense that despair was a more constant companion. Joann Lamb

⭐ Kevin Hazzard writes a powerful and compelling revelation of a man continually wrestling with the underbelly of society. His commentary on the human condition proves to be nearly hypnotic at times, frightening quite frequently, pulling upon the full repertoire of emotion via the struggles of our existence: poverty, ignorance, indifference, death and addiction – every dark force within our modern life. He also shows our human strengths so often unrecognized or brought to our awareness except when we are given a break, a respite from the traumatic stresses endured, at such time we can gain our clarity and see that powerful forces of good nurtured us forward and helped us along the path.

⭐ Should be required reading for every paramedic. In fact everyone should read it and if you ever need an ambulance, hope a “Kevin” is riding along . He tells his story with warmth, humor, caring and candor. It’s a page turner, but not written with a blood and guts angle or shock value. It goes into the soul of Kevin Hazzard as he rides the streets. You won’t be disappointed in the story or how well it is written.

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