Trauma Sponges: Dispatches from the Scarred Heart of Emergency Response Book Talk

Minneapolis Fire Captain and EMT Jeremy Norton will be discussing his new memoir, Trauma Sponges: Dispatches from the Scarred Heart of Emergency Response. In this remarkable memoir, Norton captures in arresting detail the personal and social toll that twenty-two years on the job exacts, as well as the unique perspective afforded by sustained direct encounters with the sick, the dying and the dead.

Norton’s stories range widely across his experience ranging from his early EMT training to his role as a captain; the harrowing and heartbreaking daily calls and the respect for dispatchers, paramedics and other first responders; his crew responding to the scene of the murder of George Floyd and an honest look at a line of work that suffers from a culture of toxic masculinity, white supremacy and a lack of mental health support for its workers. A book signing will follow Norton’s talk and books will be available for purchase.