Mike McCabe sits down with Brian MacLean, Assistant Chief of Cooper County (Missouri) Ambulance, to explore the realities of rural EMS. Serving 569 square miles in central Missouri, MacLean’s team manages thousands of calls each year—with transport times stretching up to 90 minutes since their local hospital closed.

MacLean shares why rural EMS demands sharp clinical skills, resilience, and total confidence in your equipment. He offers candid insight into fleet decisions, explaining why his agency chose Crestline ambulances for their cost-effectiveness, faster delivery, smart layout, and safety-focused design. Drawing on personal experience from an ambulance-involved crash, he underscores how vehicle design and properly secured equipment can make all the difference.

Sponsored by Crestline Ambulances

Rob Lawrence hosts this special episode of the EMS World Podcast. The Injury Prevention Alliance of Phoenix (Arizona) is the winner of the 2025 Nicholas Rosecrans Award, which recognizes individuals, teams, or organizations who make a significant impact in preventing injury and illness before they even happen. The award is named for Nicholas Rosecrans, a young boy who tragically drowned in 1996, spurring local paramedics to commit to increasing injury and illness prevention. The Injury Prevention Alliance of Phoenix won the award for their teen driver safety program.

In addition to members of the Alliance, Nicholas's mother, Lynn Artz, and brother, Noah Rosecrans, join the episode.

Sophie Fuller, Jaime Wesley, and Aubrey Lukis, hosts of the Life and Sirens podcast, join Managing Editor Kristin Carroll on the floor of EMS World Expo 2025 in Indianapolis. They discuss their roles as EMS influencers, being women in EMS, and more.

Simulation training has become a critical pillar of modern EMS education, bridging the gap between classroom learning and real-world field performance. In this episode of the EMS World Podcast, host Mike McCabe sits down with Nathan Harrison, Vice President of Operations at Simulator Solutions, to explore how high-fidelity simulation is transforming the way EMS providers train, prepare, and stay safe.

Harrison shares the unique origin story of Simulator Solutions, a family-founded company born from the need for realistic ambulance training environments. Drawing on engineering expertise rather than clinical backgrounds, the team has focused on recreating the physical realities of EMS work — from confined spaces to constant motion — so providers can train under conditions that closely mirror the field. These simulators allow learners to experience challenges such as claustrophobia, equipment placement, and vehicle movement long before they encounter them on the job.

The conversation highlights the safety benefits of simulation, including reducing preventable injuries and improving situational awareness. Harrison explains how Simulator Solutions works closely with EMS professionals to refine products, ensuring they reflect real operational needs. Innovations like ambulance simulators with pneumatic movement systems, rollover simulators for extraction training, and an upcoming helicopter simulator demonstrate the company’s commitment to realism and continuous improvement.

As EMS agencies face increasing demands and risks, this episode underscores how immersive simulation training helps providers build confidence, sharpen skills, and ultimately deliver safer patient care — before lives are on the line.

Mike Grzyb, Senior Director of Field Support for ZOLL’s EMS business unit joins EMS World Managing Editor Kristin Carroll live at EMS World Expo 2025 in Indianapolis to discuss the new Zenix monitor defibrillator. The device has premarket approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In this second part, Grzyb shares how the Zenix is uniquely suited for the EMS ambulance environment.

Mike Grzyb, Senior Director of Field Support for ZOLL’s EMS business unit joins EMS World Managing Editor Kristin Carroll live at EMS World Expo 2025 in Indianapolis to discuss the new Zenix monitor defibrillator. The device has premarket approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This episode goes into how customer feedback on previous ZOLL devices shaped the Zenix's unique, user friendly design.

EMS World Content Director Jonathan Bassett sits down with HMP Global Senior Vice President Josh Hartman and FlightBridge ED CEO Eric Bauer to discuss FAST 2026 and EMS World Live | Austin, which will co-locate in the Texas capital May 27-29, 2026. Listen to learn about course offerings and how to make the most of your time at both shows. Interested in attending? Register here.

In this episode of the EMS World Podcast, host Mike McCabe talks with Sherry Twitty, Director of Corporate Outreach at Columbia Southern University, about how flexible, online education is helping fire, EMS, and nursing professionals advance their careers without disrupting their demanding schedules. Twitty shares how CSU’s life-paced learning model, affordable tuition, multiple start dates, and transfer credit options are designed specifically for first responders balancing shift work and multiple jobs. She also highlights CSU’s wide range of EMS, fire, nursing, and public service degree programs—and how industry feedback helps shape them.