I'm sorry for posting out of order here, but, though I looked diligently, I couldn't find a contact email. Perhaps it was removed due to a steady stream of the sort of correspondance that is to follow: in which case, I apologize. I've been an EMT in the United States for a little over a year now. I'm also in college, studying public health. One of the issues we tend to hash (and rehash) quite a bit is the comparison of health systems in the US, Canada, and Britain- and their huge differences. When I stumbled across your (well-written, informative, and exceedingly interesting) blog, I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of familiar jargon and procedures. I was also really interested in the way your entire EMS system is run in relation to the NHS- a very different way of going about things than in America. There is actually a point to this whole thing, namely: does LAS allow for observers to ride-on for a period of, say, a few weeks? There are many summer research grants available to students, and I would love to come to London and see first-hand what really happens. (I work in Baltimore, a smallish city with largish problems of drugs, violence, and racial tensions - which seems quite similar to many parts of London these days.) Anyways, regardless of whether or not this might happen, I want to send some support from a sister EMT and also to say that this is a great blog, and your book is not half-bad either! Best regards, Olivia Kennedy Helprin Nationally Registered EMT-Basic Equipment Lieutenant, Hopkins Emergency Response Unit Baltimore, Maryland ohelpri1@jhu.edu