About the Author

Richard J. Lapierre, MA, EMT-Cardiac, is the retired Director of Emergency Medical Services for Brown University where he taught Emergency Medical Technician courses at both the basic and advanced levels in collaboration with the Brown Medical School. He is a licensed Emergency Medical Technician, Cardiac, and EMS Instructor/Coordinator for the state of Rhode Island. He is also a retired Deputy Fire Chief from the Oakland-Mapleville (RI) Fire Department, where he still volunteers as a retired member and works as an emergency telecommunicator for the Burrillville (RI) Police Department, where he also serves as chaplain and one of the SRT Medics.