The Train Disaster That Changed America with Dr. Yasmine S. Ali

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Yasmine S. Ali, an award-winning medical writer and native of Waverly, Tennessee. That town is the setting of her nonfiction book, WALK THROUGH FIRE: The Train Disaster That Changed America.

From Dr. Ali’s bio, we look at the way the book “examines how a single disaster in a rural town prompted the creation of FEMA and sweeping new regulations impacting transportation, training, and disaster management, still in use nationally and globally. This devastating disaster had widespread reactions and consequences.

It served as a catalyst for then-President Jimmy Carter to pass an executive order creating The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. It is impossible to imagine America without an organized disaster response agency, as today FEMA is a household name, managing large-scale manmade and natural crises ranging from hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, to preparedness training, public early warning systems, and even America’s Covid-19 response.”

This episode is hosted by Jamie Davis and Sam Bradley along with Dr. Joe Holley.

Paragon Brings “The Experience”

Paragon Medical Education Group specializes in bringing what they call “The Experience” to jurisdictions around the country. They bring together police, fire, EMS, and hospital teams to train together and learn what to expect from each diverse group in the response team so that each knows what to expect from the other and how to back the other groups up. Visit Paragon’s site at ParagonMedicalGroup.com for more information on how this can be brought into your system.