Monthly MNDC Events
June 12 -Trauma Sponges: Dispatches from the Scarred Heart of Emergency Response
Now In-Person and Over Zoom
Speaker: Jeremy Norton
Time: 7-8:30 CT
Topic: Trauma Sponges: Dispatches from the Scarred Heart of Emergency Response
Summary: A discussion of the gutter-end realities of our healthcare system, a career spent immersed in the suffering of others, and the twin perils of denial and despair as they shape end-of-life approaches, actions, and understanding. After 24 years responding to urgent health crises, ongoing illnesses and dysfunctions, and a wide range of terminal moments, Norton has a broad understanding of the intricacies of human behavior and the profound need to be better equipped to face the end of our lives. His discussions address the sociological factors that shape so much of our behaviors and unconscious attitudes, the challenges of facing intractable issues and deep suffering over and over again, the virtues of a radical compassion and gallows humor to protect and enhance our human connection, and the privilege of serving a public that needs and deserves empathy, witness, and care.
There is a $10 fee for non-members to attend our virtual ZOOM meetings.
It's an honor system, please CLICK HERE to SUBMIT PAYMENT to PayPal before attending. Thank you.
Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89653768799
EVENT LOCATION UPDATE: This event will now be hosted in-person as well as over Zoom.
Location: Upper Assembly Hall at First Unitarian in Minneapolis. (Address: 900 Mount Curve, Minneapolis). Doors open at 6:30, with the event starting at 7:00 PM. We will also stream live over Zoom for those not able to attend in-person. Please park on South side entrance.
Speaker Bio
Jeremy Norton is a twenty-year veteran firefighter/EMT with the Minneapolis Fire Department. He has saved lives, witnessed too many deaths, and is still yet to catch a baby. Originally from DC, he has degrees in Literature and Creative Writing from Boston universities; he has taught high school literature in DC, Chattanooga, TN, and Minneapolis, MN, and taught adult creative writing at Minneapolis’ Loft Literary Center. Norton joined the MFD in 2000, promoted to Captain in 2007, Battalion Chief in 2015, then returned to ride the rigs as Captain in 2017. He is in charge of Engine 17 in South Minneapolis. Their mascot is a sparkly unicorn, because, really, the world needs more unicorns. He has a strong stomach and grim sense of humor. He won a spelling bee in second grade. It’s been a long, slow decline ever since. He lives in Saint Paul, MN.