About the Author

With more than 38,000 members, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (aaos.org or orthoinfo.org), is the premier not-for-profit organization that provides education programs for orthopaedic surgeons and allied health professionals, champions the interests of patients and advances the highest quality of musculoskeletal health. Orthopaedic surgeons and the Academy are the authoritative sources of information for patients and the general public on musculoskeletal conditions, treatments and related issues. More than one in four Americans have bone or joint health problems, making them the greatest cause of lost work days in the U.S. When orthopaedic surgeons restore mobility and reduce pain, they help people get back to work and to independent, productive lives. Orthopaedic surgeons keep this “Nation in Motion.” To learn more about A Nation in Motion campaign, or to read hundreds of patient stories or to submit your own story, visit ANationInMotion.org. Bob has been involved in EMS since 1975. He is a full time clinical instructor for Albany Medical Center working in the Hudson Valley Community College Paramedic Program. He is also a paramedic with the Town of Colonie EMS Department, Times Union Center, and Whiteface Mountain Medical Services. He has served as National and Regional Faculty for the AHA, and Regional Faculty for the NYS Bureau of EMS. He also has served as a paramedic and lieutenant for NYC EMS, a Paramedic Program Director, Associate Director of the NYS EMS Bureau, and the Education Coordinator for PULSE: Emergency Medical Update. He is an author/coauthor of these Jones and Bartlett/AAOS books: Paramedic: Anatomy and Physiology, Paramedic: Pathophysiology, Paramedic: Pharmacology, Paramedic Field Guide, Student Workbook for Emergency Care in the Streets, and Editor of Nancy Caroline's Emergency Care in the Streets. Bob was also a co-author of the National First Responder, Paramedic and EMT-Intermediate curricula, the 2007 Paramedic Practice Guidelines, as well as a co-author of the AHA Guidelines 2005 which have paved the way to improving successful resuscitation of cardiac arrest. He is an AHA Board member and a passionate advocate for strengthening the links in the chain of survival. Kirsten (Kirt) Elling is a career paramedic who works for the Town of Colonie in upstate New York. She began EMS work in 1988 as an EMT/firefighter and has been a National Registered paramedic since 1991. She has been an EMS educator since 1990 teaching basic and advanced EMS programs at the Institute of Prehospital Emergency Medicine in Troy, New York. Kirt serves as Regional Faculty for the NYS DOH, Bureau of EMS and the American Heart Association. She has written numerous scripts for the EMS training video series PULSE: Emergency Medical Update, is the author of Jones & Bartlett/AAOS books: Paramedic: Anatomy & Physiology, Paramedic: Pathophysiology and Paramedic: Pharmacology. Kirt was also a contributing author of the IPEM Paramedic Lab Manual, and an adjunct writer for the 1998 revision of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, EMT-Paramedic and EMT-Intermediate: National Standard Curricula and the 2007 Paramedic Practice Guidelines.