28 years in EMS changes how you see the job.

In this episode of Tales from the Tailboard Podcast, Isaac sits down with Brian Collins — veteran paramedic, instructor, assistant training coordinator, and human trafficking awareness advocate — for a real conversation about what experience teaches that textbooks can’t.

From starting his career in New York City to training providers across the Carolinas, Brian breaks down the gaps in EMS education, the danger of prioritizing numbers over competence, and why scene safety is often more myth than reality.

This episode also dives into human trafficking awareness and why EMS providers are in a unique position to identify victims through observation, compassion, and situational awareness — without putting themselves in danger.

We also discuss:

• EMS training and where it’s failing providers

• The difference between classroom success and street readiness

• Tactical medicine and decision-making under pressure

• Supporting injured and ill EMS providers

• Functional fitness and being capable of doing the job

This isn’t about hot takes or war stories.
It’s about responsibility, awareness, and leaving the profession better than we found it.

Chrissy Gibas is a retired law enforcement officer, former dispatcher, and first responder peer support advocate. In this episode, Chrissy shares her experience surviving an inmate assault, navigating threats during an FBI investigation, losing trust within her own department, and living with long-term PTSD.

We talk about moral injury, silence within the system, compounded trauma, grief, and how she found purpose again through K9 peer support work with her dog Jack. This is an honest conversation about what happens when first responders are forced to carry trauma alone—and what real support actually looks like.

Sponsor:
End of Shift Apparel — built by first responders, for first responders.
Use code TAILBOARD10 for 10% off your order and support the show.
Watch all full episodes on YouTube — just search Tales from the Tailboard Podcast, or click the link in my bio for a Linktree with access to all my socials and the merch shop by End Of Shift Apparel.

Keep watching for more content, and be sure to hit all the buttons — like, comment to let me know you’ve seen the video, and share or repost to help spread the word.

Charlie Vellman is an ER nurse with 18 years of experience and the voice behind My Nurse Friend. In this episode, we talk emergency medicine, MICU lessons, burnout, teaching, and how a TikTok Live turned into a real community for healthcare workers.

This is a no-bullshit conversation about why the ER is harder than ever—and why some of us still can’t walk away from it.

Sponsor:
End of Shift Apparel — use code TFTT10 for 10% off.

Watch all full episodes on YouTube — just search Tales from the Tailboard Podcast, or click the link in my bio for a Linktree with access to all my socials and the merch shop by End Of Shift Apparel.

Keep watching for more content, and be sure to hit all the buttons — like, comment to let me know you’ve seen the video, and share or repost to help spread the word.