Behind The Shield

<p>Kevin Grange is an award-winning freelance writer with an emphasis on the medical field, adventure and travel. He is a firefighter/paramedic with Jackson Hole Fire/EMS and Grand Teton National Park in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We discuss his journey into Emergency Medicine, grizzly bear attacks, wilderness medicine, homelessness, addiction, mental health, flight medicine and so much more. </p><p>His latest book, Grizzly Confidential: An Astounding Journey Into the Secret Life of North America’s Most Fearsome Predator is available for pre-order now, to be published in September 2024.</p><p>Grange’s third book, Wild Rescues: A Paramedic’s Extreme Adventures in Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton was published by Chicago Review Press in March 2021, also winning the High Plains Book Award in the Medicine &amp; Science category.</p><p>In June 2015, Berkley Books, a division of Penguin Random House, published Kevin’s memoir Lights and Sirens: The Education of a Paramedic. Lights and Sirens is a true account of going through UCLA’s famed Daniel Freeman Paramedic Program—and practicing emergency medicine on the streets of Los Angeles.</p><p>In 2011, The University of Nebraska Press published Grange’s travel memoir, his first book, Beneath Blossom Rain, about his 24-day trek through the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. The memoir has received wide press in the United States; is available on the Kindle and Nook, as an audiobook from <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://Audible.com">Audible.com</a> and has been translated and published in China, India and Latvia.</p><p></p>

<p>Emily Kaplan is the co-founder of The Broken Science Initiative and MetFix. She is focused on helping coaches and doctors reverse chronic diseases using lifestyle interventions. The BSI is the research arm of the initiative, doing deep dives into how modern peer-review works, or in many cases does not work, looking at how industry influences outcomes and how to evaluate good research versus corrupted findings.</p><p>They host monthly Journal Club gatherings for community members to learn what a study purports to conclude and then what the methods, findings and statistical tools are actually finding. With regular live streams with metabolic experts, the BSI and MetFix communities have exclusive opportunities to learn and problem solve. MetFix has more than 130 independently owned locations, transforming lives daily. The education is offered online and in-person and designed to be an added layer of nutrition and behavior change for gyms and medical practices worldwide.</p><p>Fit For Duty, is the newest MetFix online class designed for first responders including law enforcement, firefighters, federal air marshals and emergency medical professionals. Built to teach metabolic mechanisms in practical ways with tools first responders can implement immediately to start improving their health outcomes. More at MetFix.org</p>

<p>Greg Kelley was a promising high school football player when he was falsely accused of sexual abuse of a child and wrongfully imprisoned. He spent the next six years proving his innocence, three of which were in prison. We discuss his early life, his parent's medical issues that led to him staying with a friend, the outcry, the horrendous cascade of unethical practices in both the investigation and trial, the horrors perpotrated by the predator that roamed free, overturning the decision, the power of love, reclaiming his football career and so much more.</p><p></p>

<p>Johnathon Ehsani is an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he works at the intersection of transportation and public health. His research focuses on teen and novice drivers, distracted driving, older adult mobility, and how people understand and use new technologies like autonomous vehicles. </p><p>He regularly advises the U.S. Department of Transportation and state agencies on driver education and licensing policy, chairs a National Academies Transportation Research Board committee, and has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles while speaking widely on how safer transportation systems can improve lives.</p>

<p>​Louie Disney is a 40-year-old veteran firefighter and EMT based in Colorado, who believes that to be a truly effective first responder, you must be resilient and fully prepared for the demands of the job—both physically and mentally. With over 20 years of fire service experience across Kansas and Colorado—including wildland firefighting—Louie knows firsthand the heavy toll the profession takes. He is a survivor of severe depression and hardcore alcoholism, enduring years of blackouts before a devastating wake-up call forced a change. </p><p>In 2013, Louie T-boned a car at 60 mph on his Harley. Forced to learn how to walk again, he used that near-fatal crash as the hard cutoff to get sober. Now celebrating 13 years of sobriety, Louie is living proof that it is okay to not be okay. He channels his lived experience into his role as President of the board of Next Rung, a nationwide non-profit dedicated to providing 24/7 peer support and critical mental health resources to first responders and their families.</p><p>​The physical toll of his accident brought its own intense battles. Struggling with a subsequent painkiller addiction during his recovery, Louie's weight peaked at 260 pounds. He fought relentlessly to reclaim his health to be an asset, not a liability, in his career. Making physical fitness his ultimate anchor, he has traveled the country for the past nine years to compete in the grueling Firefighter Challenge. </p><p>This year, he pushed his body to elite levels, dropping down to a shredded 179 pounds to earn his natural Pro bodybuilding card with the OCB organization. Today, he shares his hard-won knowledge of biohacking, habit-building, and specialized nutrition through his personal coaching business, The Fit Shop, helping others stay physically and mentally armed for the line of duty. When he is off duty, Louie finds his mental rehab living a grounded lifestyle on a mountain homestead with his wife, Kaylin, and their two Dalmatians. Together, they tend to their chickens, run a small home bakery, and spend their days off finding peace working side-by-side at a local mini cow ranch.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/louie_warwithn/">https://www.instagram.com/louie_warwithn/</a></p><p></p>