Our Authors
These fine folks have contributed their sweat and tears in the service of their fellow man as Providers. Now they also share their thoughs and ideas on The Blunt Side of the Needle. Get to know these brilliant and thoughtful people. Send them a message of encouragement and support.
Danny, Ambulance Driver
Danny is a Paramedic and Pre-Hospital provider who has worked everything from busy metropolitin areas to extended stents into the third world providing both basic and advanced care. His wit and engadging writing style is well matched with is vast experience and lessons hard learned. He is a genuinely good man, a leader in his field, and exactly the guy you want in and emergency or at a party.
Tracie Ann Stiers
Tracie has been an EMT, Emergency Nurse, and now a Flight Nurse. Her experience and expertise is matched only by her heartfelt love of life and people. She has see much, loved much, and knows the sting of life's loss. Her genuine and approachable nature comes out in her writing, a character trait that has given her a wealth of amazing opportunities to make a difference in the world.
Eric Hodson
Eric has always seen things a little differently. At times long-winded and a bit extraneous, he cuts to the heart of issues without flinching. Sometimes poetic, sometimes philosophical, often reflective, Eric tries to synthesize the human experience with the inhumanity we providers often experience.
Caleb Sunderland
An ER nurse in the California foothills, Caleb loves offsetting the fast pace and excitement of work with the calm and quiet countryside. He enjoys travel, photography, reading...and occasionally writing. While he finds the science of medical care amazing, he also finds the lives of his patients equally fascinating. The natural bent toward efficiency found in the ED has saved him from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and he may use this advantage to finish his book one day...it being a thousand page Sci-fi novel or a treatise on some random and obscure topic.
Michael Mastroianni
Michael Mastroianni is a former paramedic with an ScD in instructional design, specializing in cross-cultural and cross-lingual medical instruction. He is based in Philadelphia, where he works on urban social services and supports projects in Somalia, Haiti, and Iraqi Kurdistan. He enjoys practicing and teaching writing for grants, articles, and students' creative outlet, and enjoys journaling during his travels. Learn more at http://michaelmastroianni.com
Mara Vander Pol
Mara Vander Pol Is an incredible Critical Care Nurse in a Trauma ICU and Cardiovascular ICU. She has distinguished herself as a trusted team member and highly experienced resource for her colleagues and doctors. She is as handy with an ultrasound for difficult IV placement as she is with compassionate care to her patients and family. If my life were on the line, I would trust Mara without a doubt. She was my preceptor in the ICU, and the hardest clinical preceptor I have ever had. Her expectations are high, for good reason. That is why I would trust her with my life.
Michael Lyons
Michael is a retired professional musician who decided that he wanted to be a Paramedic when he grows up. He spends most of his time working on a 911 ambulance in Northern California, while being a dedicated husband and father, and squeezing in some time here and there to surf, ride his Harley, and play music.
Kate
Kate is a nurse, currently pursuing her MSc in Global Health with a focus on education at King's College in London. She is curious about everything, and loves to travel, bake, and teach. With a varied background including journalism and editing, she is glad to be a part of this important project, bringing her passions together to the benefit of both fields.
Heidi Green
Heidi Green is an unique individual who never saw the health care field as a possible job. Coming from a family where no one was in the medical field, the medical world found her. Especially the ICU world. Her exact reply when receiving the call of "we would like to offer you a position as a RN in the ICU" was..."can I call you back???" After a long talk with her family, she decided to take the plunge. She never thought she would be good enough to handle such fragile life, and now, looking back on her 4 years in intensive care, she not only can handle it, but she was made for it. Her unique perspective takes readers down a different view of the ICU and one day she hopes to inspire others to face their fears... because sometimes our fears are actually telling us we are truly meant for something greater.