Paramedic to the Prince

An American Paramedic's Account of Life Inside the Mysterious World of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

By: Patrick (Tom) Notestine

Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi

Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Drive-by shootings, drug overdoses, and multi-car accidents—as a paramedic, he thought he had seen it all, until he answered a small job advertisement that changed his life forever.

Welcome to the mysterious world of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, one of the most fundamentalist Islamic countries on the globe. Working as a paramedic at the only level one trauma center in the Middle East, he found his skills and knowledge tested to the limit on a daily basis.

Later recruited to the medical team of Crown Prince Abdullah Ibin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, the now reigning King of Saudi Arabia, he was drawn into a world of palaces and princes, limousines an Learjets. His adventure had only begun.

This is a riveting, factual account of an American paramedic's extraordinary experience inside a country seldom seen by the outside world.

©2009 Patrick (Tom) Notestine (P)2022 Tantor

Intriguing Read

What a fascinating story of an American and their take on the culture and environment in the Middle-east. The story has great historical references which gave significant context to the story. The content was exciting and kept you well entertained throughout the book. Hearing about the customs and cultural differences in areas such as religion, medical care and overall thought was captivating.

The narrator was phenomenal. He did an superb job with his performance. I was impressed by his voice inflections and accents. He pronounced the Arabic words perfectly, switching back to a more American tone without pause.

Great read overall!

The culture as an american paramedic overseas

Having worked a career in the health care industry I found Tom's story fascianating. I have often wondered how life is once recruited overseas. He worked for a Saudi Prince and the cultures of work flow is what I found interesting. American's are the infidels, Women are 2nd/ 3rd class citizens. And Foreign Physcians are skeptical about practicing medicine. he speaks about taking a blood pressure because he is male and the females are not qualified and then getting scolded for being a christian. and about how he had to get passport photo's retaken because he was wearing a cross.
Tom talks about how things are obtained with the Princes money. It works if you know how to work the system ( I forget the word he uses but the spanish call it mordida or "the bite"). Tom talks about having state of the art lifepack defibrilators that did not work because battery chargers were not purchased and instead of getting the parts, they just junked them in closets two steps forward, eight steps back. He speaks about touring parts of the country which is pretty cool and how he was allowed to travel with the prince and entourage while hunting with falcons etc.
If you want a locals guide to Saudi Arabia, this is the book for you. I would like to see a follow up book to see how his life progressed back in the states. In his book he talks of career change.