W. Hunter Simpson

After 17 years doing sales and marketing for IBM, Simpson was recruited by a little medical equipment company in Redmond, Wash., in 1966. It was called Physio-Control, and it had invented a machine called the direct current defibrillator -- used to restart a heart after a heart attack. Simpson pushed the machine not only into hospital emergency rooms, but later portable units could be used in the field, becoming available just as a new profession was starting up: paramedic. The "Lifepack" series of heart monitor/defibrillators made by Physio-Control are the gold standard for the field medic, and pretty much always have been. If it's not enough to be responsible for helping save countless lives, Simpson also wanted to make his employees' lives better: he is credited with creating the four-day work week, allowing his "team members" (as he called them) to work four 10-hour shifts and have a three-day weekend every week. When he retired in 1985, Simpson spent his time working for non-profits, raising money for various causes, especially the University of Washington; he served on 30 Boards of Directors and was a university Regent. He died January 20 at 79 from congestive heart failure. [Editor's Note: Heart failure is not something that can be corrected by a defibrillator, so there's no "irony" involved here. More info.] From This is True for 22 January 2006 Suggestions for further reading: Lights and Sirens by Hecht, Stephani Amazon Price:   Basic Arrhythmias (6th Edition) by Gail Walraven Amazon Price: $82.32 Customer Review: This book came in excellent condition just as was stated. Item was shipped in a timely matter. I recommend this to everyone.   Fringe Dweller on the Night Shift: True Stories from an Afterlife Paramedic by Monica Holy Amazon Price: $11.24 Customer Review: Anyone who has done any amount of reading has read some books that made them wonder how that particular book ever got published. This is one of those books, in my opinion. I found it dull and uninteresting from start to finish. I agree with anothe...   En Route: A Paramedic's Stories of Life, Death, and Everythi by Steven "Kelly" Grayson Amazon Price: Customer Review: A natural-grown, down-home country bigot. Doesn't even know he's doing it, which ain't pretty. Also a very talented and dedicated paramedic who lays it out accurately - the grind, the politics, the frequent fliers and transports. The dull life punctu...   Paramedic Care: Principles & Practice Vols 1-5 PKG by Bryan E. Bledsoe, Robert S. Porter, Richard A. Cherry Amazon Price: $276.00 Customer Review: i'm a paramedic student...and this is what i think. the book was good, the chapters were very well written and the other materials were great too, this book and basic arrythmias go hand in hand...you cant have one without the other, also basic pharm....   Newsfeed display by CaRP

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