Trauma Sponges: Dispatches from the Scarred Heart of Emergency Response
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Beyond an adrenaline ride or a chronicle of bravura heroics, this unflinching view of a Minneapolis firefighter reveals the significant toll of emergency response
In this remarkable memoir, Jeremy Norton marshals twenty-two years of professional experience to offer, with compassion and critique, an extraordinary portrayal of emergency responders. Trauma Sponges captures in arresting detail the personal and social toll the job exacts, as well as the unique perspective afforded by sustained direct encounters with the sick, the dying, and the dead.
From his first days as a rookie firefighter and emergency medical technician to his command of a company as a twenty-year veteran, Norton documents the life of an emergency responder in Minneapolis: the harrowing, heartbreaking calls, from helping the sick and hurt, to reassuring the scared and nervous, to attempting desperate measures and providing final words. In the midst of the uncertainty, fear, and loss caused by the Covid pandemic, Norton and his crew responded to the scene of George Floyd’s murder. The social unrest and racial injustice Norton had observed for years exploded on the streets of Minneapolis, and he and his fellow firefighters faced the fires, the injured, and the anguish in the days and months that followed.
Norton brings brutally honest insight and grave social conscience to his account, presenting a rare insider’s perspective on the insidious role of sexism and machismo in his profession, as well as an intimate observer’s view of individuals trapped in dire circumstances and a society ill equipped to confront trauma and death. His thought-provoking, behind-the-scenes depiction of the work of first response and last resort starkly reveals the realities of humanity at its finest and its worst.
From the Publisher
Publisher : Univ Of Minnesota Press (October 10, 2023)
Language : English
Hardcover : 352 pages
ISBN-10 : 1517914183
ISBN-13 : 978-1517914189
Item Weight : 1.5 pounds
Dimensions : 6 x 1.4 x 9 inches
8 reviews for Trauma Sponges: Dispatches from the Scarred Heart of Emergency Response
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Original price was: $25.95.$21.47Current price is: $21.47.
Lindagail –
Front-row seat to the systemic racial issues within our emergency response system
Mr. Norton gives you a birds-eye view of the job of a Fire Fighters, explaining there are few fires to fight these days. As emergency responders, they are dispatched to those in need of medical assistance, such as heart attacks, unresponsive individuals, injuries, etc. The job is often heart wrenching.This book is an in-depth look at our emergency response from someone with a front row seat working in the poor and working class areas of Mpls. Mr. Norton gives voice to the systemic racism he witnesses that often exacerbates encounters with people of color.I appreciate his willingness to write about his experience regarding George Floydâs murder that took place a few blocks from his station. He walks in a world where speaking out about what you have seen can pierce the blue line, despite not being a police officer. Some call him a traitor, and we know what can happen to those in this field who are considered traitors, however our silence condones the status quo.This is not an anti-cop book. We need police. We want them to go home safe and sound to their families. And we want the same for the unarmed people of color that they cross paths with while on duty.I hope this book is read by all who work within emergency response, as well as politicians who can legislate change.Critique: He has an impressive vocabulary and used words I was unfamiliar with. I understand why you would use one word to convey a lengthier description, however I think this will frustrate some paperback readers. And that would be a shame because this authorâs insight is so badly needed. Iâm thankful I purchased the Kindle version for the ease of touching a word for the definition to appear.
ann langford-fuchs –
honest, challenging and engaging
Trauma Sponges: Dispatches from the Scarred Hear of Emergency Response offers important and challenging insight into the world of emergency response. Jeremy Norton shares his observations and experiences with the engaging vulnerability of someone who appreciates the humanity he comes in contact with. He holds himself and his profession responsible for their actions and attitudes. It was a challenging and valuable read. I recommend it.
Cat alog –
An essential read
It feels like the book was written as a group of essays and that the information gets repeated in several of the chapters/essays. That said, I felt the information was extraordinary. He brings out the painful, and very human, impact of being and EMT. And then he brilliantly looks at the profound problems in the system that cause the derails the ability to do good and caring treatment of all the people who need EMT care. And that will be most of us.Please read it. It will enlighten you.
peter schweich –
Great
Great book by a great person
Nick Arceneaux –
Very hard to read
I am a firefighter and EMT and I cringed at many of the ideas the author had about tradition and service. It was hard to read through the first few chapters due to heavy virtue signaling. I see an author who is extremely jaded with his local governments fire and EMS system and instead attributes the rest of the country to be the same. I was really looking forward to finishing it but had to put it down. Might come back to it later down the road. He is also a little bit to wordy, heâs a good writer, I personally donât vibe with his ideas.
Judy Dunham –
Informed
Horrid. What kind of servant writes so grotesquely about men and women who he shares a life with. This read had me unsettled in the prologue. I made chapter 3 by hoping you had some heart for someone aside from yourself. But then I completely tanked it. Who published this tripe?The last I checked Fire fighting was an honorable blue collar vocation. So sorry Mr Norton, your many degrees and Polly Anna viewpoints collide with the realism of public service. I could forgive your hostility toward the PD, but to throw brothers and sisters under some ill fated bus to solely lift your self serving opinion. Not a team player, eh?Shame be on you!
Avid New Reader –
Essential Read for Our Times
I read this for our bookclub. It is hands down the best raw and honest depiction of a rarely spoken realty: an emergency response system that is broken in the United States. The Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) are just one area. While the focus is on the EMT service and fire service in Minneapolis, the fires and riots occurred in both cities.This book also answers the questions that those who watched the fires live on CNN or some other network over the nights of May 27-May 30, especially those who watched the Third Precinct fall live on tv as I did posed.This work contains use of an excellent authorial voice. It has a good title and the book was well-researched. I particularly enjoyed the layering of Baldwin, Glaude and other quotes that unpacked a a system from the POV of the fire department.As a memoir, this work really provided a keen analysis of a justice and public service system that is broken. The image of the EMT as a “scarred heart” sadly is not only a key image but an accurate description of current patterns in Mpls and other cities.I recommend your book for the list at the end because it is literal life-saver on many levels.You address socioeconomic, racial, mental/physical health care and the juxtaposition of policing withother emergency response services.In our group of five, all have recommended the book as wake-up call to the communities affected, and a thank you to those who serve honorably in our emergency response services for being the “trauma sponges”.
anne –
Being a “firefighter” is a complicated job
The comprehensive and honest details in the work of Dispatchers, Firefighters, and Police are described, along with simple rules: “Do what needs to be done. Work together”.The author tells of boring work at times, challenging work at times, life-threatening work at times. The workers and their family members must be appreciated for what they endure, and find ways to balance it.Linking his experiences with suggestions for improved policies makes this more than just memories of call outs.