This episode is sponsored by yet another incredible
company that I stand behind fully, and that is
Bubs Naturals. Now, I've not only used Bubz products
for four years now, but I've also had the founder,
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And I have to say, as a Brit with really dry
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558 and 1055 of the Behind the Shield podcast.
This episode is sponsored by StationWise, the
first staffing software to be truly firefighter
proof. Now, you may be wondering why I have software
as a sponsor when I focus usually on physical
and mental health of the first responders, and
I will tell you exactly why. For the first time,
this is a staffing platform that also is able
to integrate wellness information through core
load tracking, exposures, and wearables integration.
Now, of course, StationWise focuses on staffing
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if you want to hear the full story from the founder,
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want to book a demo or learn more, go to stationwise
.com. Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast.
As always, my name is James Gearing and this
week I have an incredible episode for you. Andrew
Douglas is one of my previous guests on episode
989. He is a former firefighter paramedic and
the founder of Ciento. Blake Richardson is the
son of a firefighter and co -founder of the alert
system EaseAlert. So in this conversation, we
take a deep dive into Blake's early life as a
son of a firefighter, how he decided to develop
a technology that would help his father's profession,
how Siento is not only a mental health app, but
uses AI to actually help peer support members
become better at these conversations, and so
much more. Now, before we get to this incredible
conversation, as I say every week, please just
take a moment. Go to whichever app you listen
to this on, subscribe to the show, leave feedback
and leave a rating. Every single five star rating
truly does elevate this podcast, therefore making
it easier for others to find. And this is a free
library of almost twelve hundred episodes now.
So all I ask in return is that you help share
these incredible men and women stories so I can
get them to every single person on planet Earth
who needs to hear them. So with that being said,
I introduce to you. Andrew Douglas and Blake
Richardson. Enjoy. Andrew, I want to start by
saying welcome back onto the Behind the Shield
podcast, and Blake, I want to welcome you onto
the show for the first time today. Thank you,
James. It's a pleasure to be part of it. Yeah,
glad to be here, James. Good to see your face
again. Likewise. Well, Andrew, where are we finding
you on planet Earth this afternoon? Well, I'm
not in Costa Rica. It'd be a lot better if I
was there, but I'm here in Washington State.
It's a nice gloomy day, and it's hopefully going
to get sunny out later, but we'll see what happens.
Yeah, I hope you get there. What about you, Blake?
You're closer to me, aren't you? Yeah, that's
right. I'm over in Tampa Bay, Florida. A little
bit sunnier, a little bit muggier. Not quite
the seasons that you get up there, Andrew, but
it's nice down here. Absolutely. It's cooling
down now, thank God, a little bit. Yeah. All
right. Well, let's start with you, Blake. Andrew
and I did an episode a while ago now. I want
to kind of get your backstory. I know you've
got an interesting first responder family dynamic.
and then we'll get to the technology that we're
going to talk about today and then obviously
how what brings you two together so tell me where
you were born and tell me a little bit about
your family dynamic what your parents did how
many siblings so i was actually born in the state
of washington and my family is from there originally
and so i have one younger brother he's two years
younger than i am kyle and my parents grew up
in the state of washington got their we've counted
it many times the number keeps adding and adding
but i think there's maybe 11 or 12 teachers in
my first first immediate family um you know extended
with cousins and aunts and uncles and so that
was part of the family heritage and then both
my parents decided to move to florida and it
was actually just let's go visit my uncle my
mom's brother for six months and then that six
months turned into a full -time relocation and
we've loved it so i grew up in florida We moved
when I was four. And after moving to Florida,
my parents were kind of looking for what they
could do for a profession. Teaching was kind
of more difficult to come by, and maybe it wasn't
something that they wanted to do for their whole
lives. And so my dad was doing some substitute
teaching up in Georgia. We moved to Florida,
northeast tip of Florida. It's called Fernandina
Beach, and it's right there on the border of
Florida and Georgia, the Florida -Georgia line.
Many know it as. And he was teaching substitute
for a little while. And then one day in Fernandina,
we went to the Kmart back when Kmarts were a
thing. And the local fire department was there
with the ladder truck. And so we went up, talked
to them and the guys there said, hey, you should
check this out as a career. You get every day
is a Friday. So you can kind of do whatever you
want on those other three days, those other two
days, which I'm sure we'll talk about, James.
But for him, it was pretty great because he wanted
to be around my brother and I. growing up. And
we played baseball. So he got to come to all
of our baseball games. He'd drive the engine
over to the field and hang out. But it was a
great profession. So I got to grow up around
it in the firehouse with the guys and gals who
were working there. And that was my first exposure
to the fire service. Every day should be a Friday,
not a Monday. And we will get to that. That's
right. Well done. All right. Well, what about
sports and exercise? What were you playing and
doing back then? I was a baseball player. My
lifelong dream was to be the shortstop for the
Texas Rangers. And there was a very narrow opportunity
of success there. And it didn't work out that
way. But I'm really grateful for the turns in
life that I've gotten me to this point. On the
call with you two today. But it was all about
baseball. I loved every sport, basketball, football.
Football wasn't as good to me. I dislocated my
hip after about four weeks playing football when
I was 13. And so that wasn't the longest career,
but I ended up getting back into baseball and
that was it for me. I won't take too deep a dive
into it, but this is one of the kind of aha moments
I have when I came to the States is I kept meeting
guys in there, you know, like. mid to late 20s,
early 30s, very deconditioned by that point.
And they'd always have the same Uncle Rico story.
I could have, would have, should have, if it
wasn't for my ACL, my whatever. And I was like,
what the fuck are they doing to their kids in
this country? And this is it. In some places,
there's a very thin line between performance
and the longevity of the child. And a lot of
institutions cross that line and use the child
to win a game. And then they're like, all right,
bye, thanks. And they forget that now you've
just either burnt a kid out on a sport and exercise,
or you've given actual injuries where that's
why I think some of the reasons why we struggle
with obesity in this country is we don't forge
a love of movement. We create high level of performance
and then kind of discard the athlete after. That's
a really interesting perspective. And it's true,
I think, in a lot of ways. But yeah, I will say
I used to be able to throw a football a quarter
mile, James. I promise you, just like a couple
of weeks ago. But it's true. I think that's an
interesting perspective. Yeah. I mean, it's just,
I mean, when are you talking to high level coaches
and they agree, then you're like, okay, it's
not just, you know, this bizarre perspective
that I have, this is actually a thing. And then
you get into the whole travel ball and these
sports clinics and, you know, kind of living
vicariously through your child instead of just
allowing them to play a load of sports. And then
obviously if they're just very, very good at
one, then yeah, then you can kind of help steer
them into. high level performance but you know
when you see in europe you know there's there's
more of just play in school and then you still
have these elite athletes that come out you know
in the olympics and um you know soccer and all
these other games so i think if you know if if
we were if that system was the right way of doing
it then america would win every sport but we
don't so there's that right All right. What about
career aspirations? So you mentioned about ride
-alongs, station visits, et cetera. Were you
dreaming of the fire service when you were younger
or was there already something else in your mind?
No, it was baseball. That was it. That was my
profession, my dream. Day and night, that's what
it was. And I think the fire service was always
interesting to me. It was great for my family.
My dad was home whenever he could be. I also
saw the tolls that it took on him. And we can
get into that in a little bit. But that was something
that I definitely picked up on at a young age.
Like, it's not an easy job. It's never painted
to be an easy job. It's not, period. It never
will be. But that always kind of stood out in
terms of the toll that it takes on you and hearing
the tones and knowing what they have to do when
they respond. But I was interested in it. I went
to college and kind of in high school, early
college, I was thinking maybe that's something
I do. I held on to the baseball dream way longer
than I should have. But it was kind of, I guess,
mid -college, I realized, well, I don't really
have baseball as a professional route anymore.
What might it be? Fire service was on that list.
But it wasn't the only thing. For me, it was
kind of eyes open. Who can I meet? What kind
of relationships do I have? Can I build? And
where will that take me? And so I was just really
eyes open, seeing what was in front of me. Go
reflecting back then to being the son of a firefighter,
you know, what were the pros? What were the beautiful
parts of your father's career that you enjoyed
as a child? And then what was the other side
as well? Well, it's the coolest thing to be a
firefighter. You know, everybody looks at the
firefighters and the engine driving down the
street with the lights and sirens. That's that's
really cool for anybody at any age. It definitely
catches your attention. and so i always looked
up to that and just the knowledge that you have
as a firefighter he's a paramedic so firefighter
paramedic now he's a battalion chief but at the
time firefighter paramedic you know a lot and
you're really capable as a person and you're
there for people when they need you to be when
when anybody raises a hand you can likely answer
that question because you get called to figure
anything and everything out and so i i always
looked up to that and still do i think it's a
really impressive skill set um Kind of the characteristics
that it takes to be that kind of person, I think
are awesome characteristics to embody. And the
ability for him to come to the baseball games
and come home for a lunch or a dinner every once
in a while. You know, that's pretty cool to bring
the fire engine by. We had some incidents where
one time we had a fire in the house going and
forgot to open the flue. And so we had, you know,
smoke billowing and all that stuff. And he came
by with the fire engine. took the fan, blew it
all out, that sort of thing. That's cool to have
that ability to be there. We were in his first
due territory. And so I really enjoyed and appreciated,
revered all of those things about his job. And
the things that I kind of referred to earlier
were he'd come off work 8 a .m. every third day
or more often with overtime. And you could tell
it's been a long night. He's been out three or
four times. you know, dangerous calls, you know,
taxing calls. And you can see the toll that it
takes on him as a person and it would on anybody.
So those are the things that kind of stood out
to me. And then being at the firehouse, hearing
the tones drop and just thinking like, man, I
feel that. And I'm not even going on this call.
You have to listen to that all day, every day.
And you don't know when it's coming. And it could
happen 10 times. It could happen zero times.
That to me, those are the things that kind of
stood out as that's a challenging profession.
It's funny you made the comment earlier about,
you know, people think it's an easy job. It's
not an easy job. For some reason, it popped in
my head. I don't know what it is about our profession,
but everyone focuses on when we're not running
a call. So like, oh, they sit on the lazy boy.
Oh, they have lunch together. Oh, they get to
work out. And I'm like, well, where's that in
the deadliest catch? Where's everyone go? Oh,
yeah, but they got to have tea and in the boat.
They're lucky. It must be easy to be a crab fisherman.
No other profession does that. But in the fire
service, for some reason, they always focus on
the little moments we have between calls rather
than 24 hours in a meat grinder. Yeah, I don't
get it. And it might have to do with the local
community feeling like they're owed taxpayer
dollars. We're giving you a job. Well, yeah,
your taxpayer dollars are going to make sure
your house doesn't burn down. They're going to
make sure that when you have a double compound
fracture that the fire department is there or
whatever it is. They're there. And I think people
don't think about that because what's the, I
mean, I don't know the exact percentage, but
do you know off the top of your head kind of
how often or what percentage of people actually
call 911? I mean, it's not much of the population.
No, no. I mean, if you go over their entire lifetime,
obviously it's going to be more, but I forget,
you know, in a year it is, I think, single digits.
So, you know, it's like that, you know, 80 -20
rule kind of thing. Sure. Yeah. Call it 80 %
conservatively. We'll never see the fire department,
which is a good thing. But they're like, well,
what am I paying for? Well, you're paying for
the fact that they will be there in five minutes
or less, no matter what is happening, no matter
what time it is. So yeah, people overlook that
if things go on well for them. Yeah. But also
the fact that when those people arrive, the level
of training that they've had to put themselves
through, arguably many of them taking vacation
days and paid out of their own pocket for a lot
of those classes, you know, which you don't see
in many other professions. Well, before we kind
of take a dive into the turn that your career
took, Andrew, let's kind of go back and do kind
of overview. So for people listening that haven't
heard the first conversation yet, give us an
overview of your career in this profession, in
the first responder profession. Yeah, I started
my. career out in Washington State, similar to
where Blake comes from. And, you know, I always
wanted to be a firefighter ever since I was in
kindergarten, going to the fire station and putting
on gear. I was like, this is what I'm going to
do with my life. And so I kind of, I guess you
could say, went into a period of what am I going
to do with my life? And I, in ninth grade, had
the opportunity to do a ride along for, you know,
career day. and i instantly fell in love with
the fire service because i'll be open and vulnerable
about this but i was seeking um father figure
and family in the fire service and that gave
what i was looking for and so i was like this
is amazing but unlike any toxic relationship
right the chaos is not does doesn't need to be
there right so you know got my career as a firefighter
and a paramedic and ultimately you know I didn't
take care of myself. I suppressed all my feelings
and my emotions. And ultimately, it led to a
suicide attempt and a complete change of my life,
complete direction of my life. And I'm really
grateful that I'm here today. I miss the job.
Actually, I don't miss the job. I miss the people
in the coffee table. the competition and playing
pickleball and those kinds of things. Like that's
what I miss the most about the job. I definitely
don't miss working in Lakewood and being up all
night. And I know we're probably going to talk
about sleep, but that was a huge thing for me
too. Once I left the fire service, like I didn't
realize how sleep deprived I was and how sick
I truly was. And, you know, it's been a journey
and here we are today. So how many years did
you have total actually on the line? On career,
I had nine years. And then I started as a volunteer
in 2005. And then I went to medic school in 2011.
Brilliant. So when you were in these stations,
plural, what kind of alerting systems did they
have back then? Yeah, well, that's I mean, shoot,
that's when I when I saw what Blake was doing,
I got I got excited because. you know we had
the old school red lights come on the you know
the truck is running another call in the middle
of the night and i'm getting woken up right it
was brutal you know being at my station you know
we typically didn't it seemed like every night
we started running calls at 6 p .m and i slept
all day um it just got exhausting because either
you're going to hear it in the next room or it's
going to come on in your room, you know, these
calls and it just, it just totally drains you.
Was it one of those as well, where even, even
if it's a different rig, it's waking up the whole
station every time. Yep. And in my first apartment,
it was the whole fucking County. It was a small,
it was a small department. I'm like, why are
we, why are we listening? I don't care what Shelton's
doing, you know, like I want to sleep. So it
was just like our policy that, you know, you
had, um the alerting system we did change systems
though um but it was still you got woke up by
your department so instead of being woken up
by the county you now got woken up by your department
but it was still pretty crap when i went to my
first department hire leah it was the old you
know wake everyone up scare the hell out of you
and then when i went to anaheim The first station
I was assigned to, they had not individual dorms,
but they had the little cubbies, the little compartments
within the communal dorm. But they had that alerting
system where you could actually punch in what
rig you were in. And you sat kind of rig appropriate.
And after a while, you got used to it. You really
did. There was an LED strip that would kind of
give you the visual stimulus. And then you had
a tone that you could set higher or lower. the
rest of the you know the the bunk room if they
didn't have a call if they had a call you know
they'd be pretty good the next morning and they'd
say you know how'd you guys do and then you know
whichever rig got murdered that night would look
at them with this disdain and be like we had
four you guys slept through so i saw you know
an element of oh you can actually you know be
intelligent with alerting systems so that you're
not waking everyone up well then i next the next
two i went to again It was back to the old way
on the East Coast. And one, the last one I worked
for, I even brought to them the Anaheim system.
And their communications chief at the time was
like, this is a really good idea. Let's do this.
And then they fired him. And then the administration
said, actually, no, we're going to wake up the
whole bunk room and put a monitor in the bunk
room so they can see where the call is. So now
you've got everyone woken up and an LED screen
that's now. illuminating the whole dorm. So I've
seen this to and fro. And really, I mean, if
we're being completely blunt and honest, it's
about egos and administration to actually want
to change. So with Andrew's perspective and mine
now in four fire departments, let's go back to
you, Blake. So what made you even kind of think
about firefighter alerting systems? And then
let's talk about the wearables that you've developed.
Yeah, I mean, the first thoughts were around
hearing those tones. So you're out there for
Thanksgiving meal or just hanging out for breakfast
and you hear the tones. And like I described,
I'd feel that in my heart where it's like, oh,
OK, there's something going on here. And it might
even be the other station or the other department
in the same county, to Andrew's point. It really
doesn't matter what the call is. You're going
to feel that alert. And so that was the initial
reasoning around like, man, there's got to be
a better way to do this. I see my dad coming
off a shift and he's beat down. And I see or
I feel the tones when I'm there at the firehouse.
And that doesn't feel good. Like, what if we
didn't have to have a blast, an audible blast
that scares the hell out of you? And so that
was the initial idea is replace that audible
blast with a tactile or vibration alert. And
that was back a long time ago, way before I started
the company. I was just mentioning that to my
mom in the living room before school one day
and didn't do anything with it at that time.
But then later in college, I pitched that idea
again. And it was an entrepreneurship course.
I pitched several ideas. All the ideas were bad,
real bad, except for this one. And fortunately,
they gave me a third try. I was the only student
they let get multiple trials. I was like, give
me one more, give me one more. And I was afraid
to share this. idea because I didn't want someone
to steal the idea. It was naive of me to think,
oh, if I tell this idea, everybody's going to
know it's the greatest idea since sliced bread
and they're going to steal it and I'll get no
credit. Well, that's wrong. You need people around
you to support you and you need to get it out
and get feedback on it. But that was the initial
step there and went straight to the local fire
department as part of the class. That's what
college was great for. For me, it was I took
this class and I was required to build a business
model around this idea. Otherwise, I would have
sat there and not done anything with it. and
talked to the fire chief and his health and wellness
leader was there. So he had tasked a firefighter.
It was early on in kind of the health and wellness
initiatives in the state of Florida. And he had
just come back from a conference that week. He's
like, oh, man, this is a real problem. I know
this. Actually, if you could develop this, that
would be really interesting. And so it was the
right people at the right time. So many steps
along the way where it could have bounced a different
way. And I wouldn't. Wouldn't know you guys,
wouldn't be talking about EaseAlert. EaseAlert
wouldn't exist. But today, EaseAlert is now a
fully wireless alerting system. And it does the
same exact thing that a fire station alerting
system would. But we call it a firefighter alerting
system because it takes what traditionally goes
to a building and has wired in components to
alert a station and delivers that alert directly
to the firefighter or the responder. And so those
devices are all wireless. We have what we call
TAC pods. They go on your wrist. They vibrate.
We have a bunk alert. It goes in your bunk as
a vibration motor. We have visalerts, which are
red LEDs, LED strips, display boards, dispatch
consoles, the whole thing. But it all stemmed
from that idea of there's got to be a better
way to notify people than that blast of those
audible tones. Well, before, when we were talking
a few months ago now, I was thinking about, well,
how does a parent wake their child? They don't
just pull the door open and scream at their three
-year -old, hey, wake up! You kind of gently
rock them, and then they slowly wake up. Versus
if you screamed at them, they'd... sit up, you
know, immediately and their heart would be out
their mouth. So it does make a lot of sense to
me. And again, working on that individual dorm
thing, it just makes no sense whatsoever to wake
anyone up who doesn't need to be there. And this
is where I think sadly, ego comes into the fire
service, you have a battalion chief, I need to
listen to my crew and see what they're up to.
No, you don't go to fucking bed. they're big
boys and girls you know if they need you they'll
call you you're not that bloody important so
get some sleep so you're not an asshole when
you do wake up you know it's just so fundamentally
you know obvious but again the fire service the
way we've always done it so um talk to me then
about the efficacy as you started developing
this product What were you seeing as far as results
compared to that zero to 100, you know, lights
and sirens, you know, heart rate goes through
the roof that we're all used to? Well, that was
the big thing for us when we realized that it's
not just healthier and less startling, but it's
more effective than a traditional audible learning
system alone. And what we found is that touch
or tactile is a more effective way to notify
somebody. Just like you said, when you want to
get somebody's attention. You can yell at them
and they'll probably turn around. But if they're
sleeping, they may not wake up. Some people sleep
through those tones, especially after a long
day. You can sleep through an audible tone. But
if someone comes and taps you on the shoulder,
you're not going to sleep through that. And even
if someone sleeps through the tone, what do you
do? You kick their bed or you shake them because
you need that touch. And that's your body's way
of saying there is something or someone here,
like right here, that needs my attention. I need
to respond to that. And so it's more effective
than the audible notifications are. And that
for us was a big light bulb. So we got to know
that when we're alerting emergency responders,
it has to work every time. It has to be simple.
It has to be effective. And the goal in getting
you out the door, actually, we help get you out
the door faster. It's not about slowing things
down or putting soft edges on things. putting
foam around or bubble wrapping. It's not that.
The job is still dangerous and it is stressful
and it's a challenge. But what we do is eliminate
the unnecessary challenges and improve your capabilities
as you're getting out the door. So you talked
about understanding the efficacy around it. That's
where we started with knowing, okay, this is
a real problem. We know this. The science says
firefighters, the leading cause of on -duty death
is a heart attack. And firefighters are up to
14 times more likely to die of a heart attack
during an alarm response than non -emergency
duties. And so those two pieces of information
helped us realize, okay, this is a real problem
here. And we know that cardiovascular risk is
increased with the fight or flight response,
the repeated fight or flight response. Your arteries
become inflamed, increases your risk of heart
attack and stroke. So those are all scientific
facts. And now we get into understanding the
solution. so we read all those papers and started
reaching out to the researchers who published
those papers some really great researchers i'm
sure you know a lot of them but sarah janky denise
smith stefanos kales joel billings the the researchers
now who we're looking to in the fire service
for health and safety every single one of them
believe it or not responded and every one of
them said i think you're onto something here
let's put together a paper or a research study
and we submitted an application and the nih funded
a clinical study which uh can dive into in more
detail but that was the kind of proof around
the efficacy around the system well let's dive
into that now what were the results yeah so we
measured their subjective health ratings compared
to the traditional learning system so the the
big thing was here tell us how the your self
-reported health on the traditional alarm versus
the tactile alert And it was a study conducted
in the Midwest. Dr. Sarah Janke and Dr. Joel
Billings were kind of leading it from Joel Billings
is with Embry -Riddle Aeronautical University
in Daytona, but he's based out of Stillwater,
home of the Oklahoma State Fire College. And
then Dr. Janke is out of Kansas City, Missouri,
with the Center for Fire Rescue and EMS Health
Research. So they were the research teams around
it. And the NIH said, OK, here's the money. EaseAlert
provided the technology. Those two groups do
the research. And there were two fire departments
that raised their hand, the Stillwater Fire Department
in Oklahoma and the Central Jackson County Fire
Protection District in Missouri. So we got 48
total participants across five stations between
the two departments and did a full pre -post
study looking at both objective and subjective
data, heart rate monitors, accelerometers, IRB
approved subjective surveys, you know, the whole
gamut. So the data around it was we saw that.
With the traditional alerting system, so like
the Klaxon belt, that's what they had at one
of the departments, we saw an improvement of
388 % on the self -reported health ratings of
the traditional audible compared to the EaseAlert
tactile. And then when you combine the two, because
the other department had a ramp -up audible,
which you guys, I think you both said you had
experience with, right? Yes. Where it goes from
quiet to loud. And even when you conglomerated
the two, you put both of those. results together
from all 48 firefighters it was still 169 improvement
in the self -reported health ratings and then
even more than that we we asked what is your
agree or disagree with this statement and it
was easeler is less startling than the traditional
learning system and you guys know anybody listening
to this podcast is getting firefighters to agree
on anything is a challenge you know like what's
for dinner what color are the new t -shirts Anything
is a challenge. And we got 95 % of those respondents
to agree or strongly agree that it is less startling.
And then we asked, how does it affect your response
capabilities? And 90 % agreed or strongly agreed
that it improves their response capabilities.
So we're going back now to get some more of the
objective data. We saw some pretty drastic reductions
in that heart delta for some respondents. Other
respondents, we had a little bit of a mixed bag
with that. We think it had to do with the equipment
itself. So we're going back to a full clinical
trial right now. We just submitted the application
last week. So fingers crossed, we'll have more
to share. Who knows? That's going to be five
years down the road. But we'll get that data
and excited to continue on that path. Beautiful.
Well, Andrew, you mentioned about transitioning
out the fire service. You ended up creating something
amazing with Siento as well. So before, again,
we talk about the relationship between the two.
Talk to me about, you know, what made you create
that and for people listening what it is. Yeah,
I mean, you know, I kind of talked earlier about
my moment of crisis when I had a suicide attempt.
And at that moment, I. didn't really have anything
to turn to we had a peer support team um dave
my brother he uh blessed me by being by my side
within like the first 10 minutes of that event
happening and um you know part of that was just
this stigma of like i i was convinced like i'm
losing my job everybody's gonna think i'm crazy
you know nobody's gonna want to talk to me Well,
there were some of those people, let's just be
honest. And that's kind of like we're trying
to solve, right, at Ciento. But ultimately, you
know, I wanted to build something that I wish
I had when the system failed me. And when I came
up with the idea, initially, we recognized that
there's some other solutions that are already
being at play in the fire service. You know,
where are they going wrong? And what aren't they
solving, right? because it's just a ban i think
we all know like in the fire service we do like
to put band -aids on things and it comes down
to ego james again right is that we're not willing
to look in the mirror and and be open to change
um but the thing that really stood out with me
the most like during that experience and when
we start siento and hearing how you know peer
support is so important to every agency is like
okay how do we connect people at a push of a
button but do it anonymously so you don't have
to worry about that stigma of you reaching out
for help um you know is okay it's it's totally
okay and i hate i hate the saying like it's okay
to not be okay to be honest like we all suffer
every human being suffers everybody we're walking
next to is suffering so if we can hold space
for somebody and you know that's why we just
launched something called siento sim which essentially
helps people like practice having those difficult
conversations and getting repetition talking
about suicide relationship issues death dying
i mean these are things that so many people are
afraid to have a conversation about and so you
know my mission is like how do we make human
connection instantaneous and how do we get people
to start talking about the problems and the challenges
our families and our firefighters are facing
across the united states and so yeah it's been
a interesting journey as blake is my we we definitely
support each other which is awesome um it's a
really lonely journey um at the same time the
job anybody that's watching this like if you're
a firefighter and you're like i want to start
a business or i'm thinking about starting a business
Fucking go do it today. Just do it. Don't care
about what anybody else thinks. Like Blake's
saying, you think your idea is great. Your idea
doesn't mean anything until you execute it. It
all comes down to execution. And you can have
nothing. I started my company. I lost everything.
I went through another crisis moment and ultimately
my wife took my kids away and I had $73 in my
name. I just had faith and belief in myself that,
you know, we can't this, what I'm trying to build
is a thing and nobody believed me for the longest
time, but I didn't quit. And so if you're thinking
about starting a job, just a new career, or you
want to start a business, I just do it. Don't,
don't let anybody hold you back. You're the only
person that's holding you back from, from success.
So yeah, it's been a fun journey and I'm super
pumped. kind of share what Blake and I are up
to and how we can support firefighters together.
I just saw an Instagram video from Steven Pressfield,
the author, and I love his work. I think he's
so spot on. And in this writing journey that
I've been on, I definitely heed a lot of his
advice. And I think he was responding to a question
he gets a lot, which is, well, what about competition?
And he goes, 99 .9 % of people are going to give
up. And it's funny because when you're talking
about the businesses that you've created, I was
thinking even just talking about the 2472 in
the fire service. You talk about an island. I
was on an island for a long, long time getting
laughed at, getting ridiculed. And I knew it
was the truth. I knew that it was the solution.
It was the biggest herd of elephants in the room.
And just like the two of you, when you've got
something that you know needs to be out there,
then it doesn't matter. You get knocked down,
you just dust yourself off again. But yeah, I
mean, if the first time you get knocked down,
you're like, I'm going to do something else.
And obviously it wasn't really burning in your
heart. But I couldn't agree more with both of
you. If that thing is there, you know, then I
think you're not driven by the money, you're
driven by the mission. And hopefully for all
three of us, we'll be able to see some financial
gain at some point from this. But yeah, I couldn't
agree more. This is what's exciting about entrepreneurship
in the first responder professions and why we
shouldn't be relying on overtime as the be all
and end all for our income is that the skills
that we have, whether you're an actual first
responder, whether you're a son of a first responder,
you can forge another entire area where you're
also making the world better, even if you're
not wearing a uniform anymore. Yeah, without
a doubt. Yeah, I think too, you bring up competition.
We talk about competition. I like to win. I'm
a winner. I'm a firefighter, right? I'm competitive.
And it's been really interesting to see transitioning
from the fire service where it's more team -led
environment to an eat -your -own environment
has been a very different experience for me.
But what's really exciting is competition drives
innovation. That is what competition is about.
So if you can out -innovate me and out -execute
me, go for it. But I mean, our team is ready
to innovate. And that's why Blake and I are working
together because we believe in people first.
I think with everything that's going on in the
world right now, we have an opportunity to choose
love. and choose people first over money over
anything else because at the end of the day like
that's what matters like your job doesn't matter
your house doesn't matter it's the people in
the community around you that truly matters and
and so you know i heard not too long ago like
this saying that really stuck with me and and
i'll always remember it but it's comparing like
what a buffalo and a cow do in a storm right
like buffaloes run into the storm and through
the storm and as hard as that is and difficult
as it is if you fight through that fear if you
fight through that feeling that you have i can't
do this you're going to get out the other side
a lot quicker than the person who runs away so
i think as a fire service in general when it
comes to wellness and it's not just mental health
it's whole body wellness um we need to start
running into that storm together and really start
making changes and not checking boxes anymore
i think you talk about leadership and ego and
you know it's just a check of the box when it
comes to wellness it's getting better but it's
still a check of the box winston churchill said
if you're going through hell keep going it's
the same exact thing you know what i mean i think
this is what we need i talk about courage or
cowardice a lot and i think just to kind of touch
on what you're alluding to andrew because as
we're sitting here now on 9 12 which arguably
is the day that we all came together together
as a nation today i released my book deliberately
because it was such a pertinent day there is
so much divisive rhetoric going out there but
that's the cowardice 100 if your message is oh
we all hate each other then you're a coward because
Someone with courage is someone who's going to
pull everyone together, even if there are differences,
even if there are difficult conversations, even
if there are traumas in the past that we've got
to forgive and move on. That, I think, is this
conversation. And what both of you are doing
with your products and what I'm trying to do
with my mission is not driven by greed or winning
as far as some corporate race. The competition
is the rising tide lifts all ships and shifts.
If we want to make the world a little better,
we've got to innovate with that too. So we can
take all of these great minds and this great
technology that's being used to hurt people and
we can put it back because most innovation started
not as a weapon. It started as something good.
So put it back into the place where we heal people
because hurt people hurt people and healed people
heal people. Yeah, that second part of the saying
is great. I hadn't really heard that, but it's
so true. Don't finish it with hurt people, hurt
people. Finish it out with the good side of things,
the good side of people. There's always a good
side. 100%. Well, Andrew, just I want to circle
around for a second. You mentioned the Siento
Sim. I can't remember if we talked about this
in the original conversation, if we've talked
about it since on the phone or if it was with
someone else. But I remember talking to someone
about... the ability to actually practice for
peer support teams and people that would be interacting
with people that were struggling. Is this one
of the tools? Yeah, so it's a first of its kind.
Actually, my son came up with the idea. My son's
12. So I'm super proud of that. So he's our AI.
Brody is that person that you're going to be
giving support to is my son. But yeah, it's getting
those repetitions. You know, we heard day in
and day out, like one. It's hard to get us all
in the same room. And then number two, I don't
feel comfortable because I only do one, two peer
support requests a year. But through that, we've
learned, we just launched it in June. So everything's
very new and we're growing super fast. We have
a lot of agencies that are buying into this because
it's such a big problem that nobody's solved
yet. But what we're seeing is agencies open to
the idea of, wait. Why are we only training our
peer supporters to give support? We should all
have emotional readiness to be there and be present
for one of our brothers. Well, if we're going
to call each other brothers and sisters, we need
to be present there for them. You don't need
to solve the problem. You just need to learn
how can you sit in that space with somebody who's
suffering and show them compassion and empathy.
to get them through it on their own. It's not
your role as a firefighter to make me healthy.
The only way I'm going to get healthy is when
I look inward in myself. And your job in that
space when somebody's struggling is just to simply
hold a mirror up to them for them to then take
that internally and make a change. Absolutely.
All right. Well, then let's get to why you're
standing here side by side today or sitting here
virtually side by side, that is. So, Andrew,
to start with you, kind of what how did you come
across Blake's technology and then talk to me
about this relationship that you forged? Well,
it started out with this like really shitty video
on his website, which is a lot better now. No,
I'm kidding, because like, no, I watched this
video. on his website and i'm like fuck am i
on target solutions right now blake yeah no i
was big time um it's fun but yeah so ultimately
you know i saw blake and what he was doing and
and i i saw something i wish i had right when
i was on the job and you know so i just randomly
i don't know if it was me or you either way we
got connected we started talking and From a human
level, I connected with Blake in his personal
mission. Him being a firefighter's son is super
important. I think in the space of technology
and public safety and wellness, I think we talk
about greed. There is a lot of that in our space.
And when I see somebody who's truly a human being
and puts other people first and is thinking about
you know, the whole wellness of a firefighter
outside of just, you know, their product. And
when Blake and I connected, it was just easy.
And then I like to come up with crazy ideas.
We bounce ideas off of each other. And so ultimately
we decided, like, you know, let's combine forces.
And, you know, Blake and his company are doing
amazing things. you know the physical aspect
of the firefighter how do we keep them healthy
and safe that way and then by combining that
with our technology we can also now take care
of the firefighters mental well -being um and
wellness in general as as well so it made it
made the partnership opportunity super easy for
us so how does it integrate well we can't get
away that information yet um no we got some secret
squirrel stuff we're working on so right now
like we There is no integration. It's working
together, but we definitely have some big plans
that, you know, we talk about innovation. We
talk about competition. Hopefully what we're
about to do in the future will strive others
to create something similar. Well, Blake, back
to you for a second. With you being here in Florida
with this state. now finally really starting
to have this kind of revolution of the 24 -72,
so starting to finally address, as I always say,
the herd of elephants in the room, the woeful
shifts that we work, and that causing the recruitment
and retention crisis. What, if any at all, has
been the conversation as far as the shifts themselves
as you've been there displaying your product?
It's definitely becoming a much hotter topic.
And even I've talked to my dad about it recently
with his department. And I mean, everybody's
talking about it now. Five years ago, it wasn't
even considered, you know, in terms of that's
not true. You were considering it, but there
were not. It wasn't a hot topic. Like you said,
yeah, you're on an island, like you said. But
it wasn't something that everybody even knew
was an option, truthfully. And even more recently
with Dr. Billings, his whole. realm is shift
schedules and sleep health and so we i've talked
with him all the time and um it became more and
more of a question from fire departments that
we're working with and we're throughout the country
and in fact more kind of outside of florida than
in florida which we're trying to change here
pretty soon but um we're hearing from all over
the country people are really focusing on this
they realize the impact it's having and um i
tell everybody the gold standard is 24 72. like
that's you if you can do it do it the The return
is there. You just got to convince your leadership
and look to others around you. And we're seeing
it more and more, especially in Florida. So I
would say it's one of, if not the hottest topic
that I'm hearing, especially in the state of
Florida. Well, what's interesting if you actually
break it down. literally solves every problem
that we have now not solely like if you get more
sleep all of a sudden the mental health issue
is going to go away but i mean it makes a huge
dent on the physical health the mental health
what i'm really excited about is it shifts the
the lens from wellness to performance so ironically
the opposite thing that we were having with the
high school conversation earlier, you know, our
whole conversation has been on, on reactive wellness.
So, Oh no, they're overweight. I know the hypertensive,
I know they're, you know, testosterone is 112,
you know, and let's try and pull them back in.
Well, these are tactical athletes. We should
be talking about cardiovascular performance and,
you know, breath work and, you know, mindfulness
and all these things that the special forces
and, you know, and other elite operators around
the world have by their side. So there's a beautiful
conversation with that. So all the chess beaters,
the mustache wearers that, you know, love to
film themselves on Instagram. If you really take
this profession seriously, then you should be
at the front of the line beating on the drum
to get a healthy work week because that's how
you forge performance. And then you look at the
financial side, obviously, the wasted budget
on overtime and lack of retention and workman's
comp and medical retirements and lawsuits and
all these other things. There's your money. And
then once you fix the work week, well, now you've
got more of a budget for, you know, Ciento, EaseAlert.
These other initiatives are going to then layer
this beautiful first responder health boulder
that we're going to be rolling down the hill.
Yeah. Absolutely. It all builds on top of itself.
And we see a lot of departments actually that
are getting easier. And I'm sure Andrew can say
the same for Siento. They're the ones that are
already making those shift changes or already
implementing those health and safety practices.
They've already done steps, you know, one, two,
three, and they've already advanced so far along.
And now they're able to add more because they're
having better retention, increased recruitment,
less overtime. less expenses, less liabilities.
And they're, they're now putting more into that,
into their greatest resource, their personnel
to make sure that they can do their job more
effectively and take care of their communities,
improve their ISO ratings. It's just such a,
it's a positive vicious cycle that goes right
up. You know, it adds onto itself. A hundred
percent. Andrew, anything to add? Well, no, I
was just thinking like in that, the word that
just kept popping in my head that it comes down
to is like leadership. i think our biggest challenge
we're facing right now is is leadership you know
i uh we so we just ran a campaign so we we ran
into like a bunch of agencies that like rural
agencies who can't afford to do peer support
or don't even know where to start right and we're
like well how can we support them so we started
like a campaign called i feel which is we sold
T -shirts to fund getting a department out of
Minnesota, Peer Support. It's a rural agency
north of Minneapolis. And what I loved about
it was the leadership. So here I am, this crazy
entrepreneur. We come up with an idea, like,
literally a couple days before, and, like, I'm
on the phone, like, trying to, like, who can
we support? And I just happened to run into this
chief, and, like, he's like, I can talk to you
today. it was instantaneous he had buy -in but
he said one thing that was like really impactful
to me that i really respect with leaders is that
he's like i think this is great i want my team
to have buy -in i want my team to lead this and
it's like those are the best leaders who they
don't push something on you they they look for
somebody to step up in that moment to take something
on and have initiative and that just shows the
members of the team that like hey your leader
cares about you right they listen doesn't mean
they're always going to do what you want or make
you happy but they at least listen and they give
you ownership in being a part of that organization
and so you know i think it boils down to just
we have a really um we have very toxic leadership
in the fire service and i'll just call it out
um it's getting better like we're having different
generations come in um but we still have a long
way to go and so it just boils down to leadership
people just need to step up and it doesn't mean
you're a fire chief to be a leader right a fire
a rookie firefighter can be a leader of their
organization just as much as a fire chief can
there's a texas department that i think literally
on tuesday is going to be able to publicly announce
that they're the first department to go to 2472.
And I know that one of the people spearheading
it in that department just hit his first year
in that department. So there we go. Leadership
within that department. So amazing. And I'm not
saying he was the only person by any means, but
definitely one of the driving forces. And this
is what I've seen as well. When we go back to
the mental health conversation, I was talking
to someone about this just today. One of the
least discussed areas of mental ill health in
the first responder professions, and I'm sure
a lot of other areas too, is organizational betrayal,
toxic leadership, as you mentioned. Because if
you are that driven first responder and you have
service in your heart and you take your job seriously
and you train and you stay in shape, and then
the organization that you wear their patch on
your shoulder says, sit down, shut up, you're
making us look bad. that can be hugely detrimental
because that goes against the very ethos of what
you're doing in the first place. So what I'm
excited about is as this health revolution starts
to take hold and people are looking at other
departments going, well, you told us that that
would never work here. Well, why not? Because
the neighboring department is doing it and I've
heard nothing but good things. Now we're going
to look back and go, okay, well, who was stopping
us from progressing? And should that person still
be in the position? union president, chief, whoever
that person, city, county council members, you
were opposing the very things that were going
to help the first responder wellness that keep
us fully staffed, delivery of service. So I think
that anyone who's out there that is a bad leader
that refuses to change, you're not going to be
there very long. I hate to tell you, but it's
going to happen. Yeah, the change is happening
all across the fire service. You're seeing younger
firefighters come up and a one -year firefighter
taking over and making a change like that. I
mean, it's a different breed of firefighters.
And some of the salty firefighters are saying,
oh, I don't like that. It's not the way we've
done in the past. But a lot of those firefighters
that I talk to, even with EaseAlert, when we
come in and we'll say, hey, this is EaseAlert.
It's going to do this. And we know it's very
different. They'll be really opposed, really
opposed. But then they'll kind of see some of
the younger guys and gals take it on. And they
start buying in because. It just seems like the
fire service in general is open to innovation
more than it ever has been, which is very encouraging
and exciting because innovation doesn't necessarily
mean throw out tradition. We honor tradition.
We respect tradition and legacy. It's that way
for a reason. That's what makes the fire service
special. But don't let it impede your progress,
you know, because progress is going to help you
do your job better, help you go home safer, live
longer, spend more time with your family. I think
people are realizing that. I get that word thrown
in my face when we talk about the firefighter
helmet. Oh, but it's tradition. No, that's a
hat. That is a hat. If you really wanted to look
the same way as people that when that first came
out, then you wouldn't have an SCBA and you'd
arrive with a horse. So you were fine moving
forward with breathing apparatus, but all of
a sudden the hat doesn't want to change. Tradition
is selflessness and courage and service and problem
solving. Those are the traditions of the fire
service camaraderie. So we've got to remove those
two parts because the way we've always done it,
that isn't tradition at all. That's a lack of
humility and that's a whole different conversation.
That's a great point. Tim Ferriss had a guest
on his show. He was a businessman from, I think
it was Brazil or somewhere in Central South America.
And he was talking about his philosophy that
his father had and he called it the three whys.
And he said, if you have a question, and you
ask why three times, and there's a bona fide
reason after each of those three whys, then you
know it's the truth. So for example, we need
to drink water. Why? Well, because the body's
made up of water. Why? Well, because that's what's
needed at a molecular level to create all our
functions. Okay, humans need water. That is an
absolute truth. We need to have an alerting system
that wakes up the whole station. Why? Well, because
we've always done it. All right, you're done.
You see what I mean? So this is what we need
to put all the things that we've always done
into that same kind of humble reflection process
to be like, okay, forget about the way you've
always done it. Does it make sense? Why are you
waking up four different apparatus crews for
a rescue with two people on it to go run a call?
Why is a battalion chief monitoring and staying
half awake all night when you literally can just
say, hey, can you turn out the chief? And then
they'll get the call. So I think this is what's
interesting now. And the same with what we're
talking about today. Why do we have to have loud
alerting systems that scare the hell out of people
and send their nervous system through the roof
when there is an alternative now in the technology
that you've developed? Or, you know, why do we
just have a two day peer support training weekend
when now you have an AI platform that can actually
help all of our first responders learn how to
have these difficult conversations? So I think
it's amazing. I really do. Yeah, that's a great
way to think about it. Go ahead, Andrew. Yeah,
no, I just think the future is bright. You know,
I try to get from my mom, right? Like nothing's
wrong. The world's great, right? The world is
difficult, but today I'm making the choice to
not only love myself, but to love everybody else.
And, you know, in working with Blake is, you
know, we I truly believe that we're with what
we've thought about coming up with and things
change over time. I don't I don't think that
there's going to be one solution out there that's
going to work. But I think when you have people
who. believe in the mission and, and outcome
of, you know, at the end of the day, we want
all of our firefighters to go home to their family.
And, you know, and that's when we talk about
mental health too, like we don't talk about the
macro level of problems that come from, you know,
Washington state's looking at cutting mental
health benefits for firefighters to save money.
Well, here's the thing you're destroying families.
Now you're going to have depressed and anxious
kids who are now on therapy and on medications.
Like, I mean, that's how our society works. You
have, you know, trauma that's being spread throughout
your agency because you're not taking care of
things. Like, you know, the time for change is
now. And, you know, it's amazing to have people
like yourselves that are speaking out against
us because at the time, we can't lose any more
people. It's getting sad. Well, even from a false
economy point of view, you cut mental health
benefits. What are the downstream costs of that?
And this is the reverse of what we're seeing
in 2472. You keep working your first responders
as a 56 hour work week. What's the downstream
cost? Well, we're living it now. Congratulations,
fire service. This is no one wants to do the
job anymore. Cities and counties are bleeding
money. We just discovered what happens if you
don't change. So the opposite is true. And Pasco
and Gainesville and all these progressive departments
are showing, hey, now we're fully staffed. There's
no overtime. Apart from, you know, I mean, they
all have overtime, you know, events and that
kind of thing, but not this consistent overtime
model where you're being forced to work. And
20 years later, you're still using that as a
staffing model. And it's the same with cutting
programs. You know, the way that you save money,
and I always use this as an example, the NHS,
which I adore from the UK, the healthcare system.
at its core, is an amazing altruistic, I would
argue, best healthcare system on the planet.
All of us band together, and if you get hurt,
if your family gets pregnant and you're going
to have a child, if your beloved person gets
cancer, whatever it is, we're going to take care
of them. That works beautifully if you then put
all your focus on making the rest of the nation
as healthy as possible. But... As what's happened
in the UK, you allow it to be privatized, picked
apart, understaffed, and then you allow fast
food and all these other things to kind of perforate
your culture, get rid of PE programs. Now the
population gets fatter and sicker. Now you start
destroying the health care system. So the way
that you save money, people always ask, oh, we
need more tax money or we need more, you know,
firefighter budget, whatever it is. You don't.
The healthier your workforce, the more money
you save, which then you can reinvest in even
more initiatives to make it healthier and safer.
We know how not to do it. So the converse is
also true. When you fix the work week, when you
put in a better alerting system, when you have
access to mental health resources, all these
areas, you're just amplifying the healing effects
versus what we're doing at the moment, which
is amplifying the Jenga tower effects. Yeah.
I think, too, our politicians and I'm just going
to be really blunt. We don't matter. Me and you
don't matter. We're dispensable. Right. I've
never felt more inhuman than what I've experienced
dealing with the state of Washington and the
system. It is horrible. Absolutely horrible.
And you wonder why our firefighters are asking.
They're saying, hey, I need help. And then they
go get help and they come back and kill themselves.
That period of time after treatment, you go into
treatment, is the most vulnerable state a person
is going to be in. But you know what the fire
service does? They don't fucking talk to you
about it. They want to walk away from it because
it's uncomfortable. We don't want to talk about
it. So now we leave our brothers and sisters
suffering alone. And it's clear that all we are
is nothing more than a body, right? Because it's
clear. investing money in my mental health is
not valuable. It doesn't matter. That's what
the optics look like to us as firefighters. And
ultimately it comes up, I mean, who's better
at organizing than we are, right? We kick ass
like that. We need to step up and fight these
states and cities like Denver who are cutting
mental health benefits for firefighters. We need
to step up and fight for them because it's just
going to make this problem 10 times worse. We're
just kicking that can down the road. And I was
going to add on, James, you kind of talked about
the way we think about the fire service and investments
or what's my return on this. Of course, it all
comes down to the dollar. So you have to speak
that language to make it make sense. And one
of our investor advisors, Stefan Truthen, he
works at the Berlin Fire Department and he's
just a visionary in the fire service. And he
talks about the fire department is not a cost
factor, but a production center. Don't think
about how much it costs the city for a department.
to run emergency response. Think about how much
it produces for the city to provide that service
to your communities. And that simple frame of
mind shift turns into an investment vehicle for
the cities to realize, oh, we can make money
off of AMS runs and ambulance trips. And we can
provide these services that increase our tax
burden. And all these things, like it's a production
factor because it is better for the city, you
know, and it does help. And so lean into that.
It's really, like you said, just change that
frame of mind. One of the things that I hate
hearing is the fire service is a business. And
I know that's kind of partially what he said,
but what I mean is that's thrown out there a
lot. And I've always said, okay, well, if it's
a business, why do we treat it like an Indonesian
sweatshop and not Google? Because I went to Google
HQ in London a couple of years ago. And they
have a free cafeteria with all kinds of healthy
food. They have gyms. They have daycare. They
have flexible hours because they understand that
a healthy and happy workforce is then actually
going to be more innovative, more efficient,
and more productive. Yet, conversely, you have
the way they look at us. So again, no matter
how you look at it, if you look at the corporate
world, the UK and Iceland specifically have just
finished a study and hundreds of businesses went
to a four -day work week. for eight -hour day
work week with one -hour lunch. And equally as
productive, again, innovative, efficient, but
less sick time use, happier workforce, happier
customers, obviously. So when the corporate leaders
are doing these proactive changes that we're
fighting for... And the fire service has the
audacity to say we're a business without actually
asking the business leaders what they're doing.
It just goes to show the huge disconnect. We're
not a business. We're a service. And I hope that
down the road, we're not looking to make money
from transport. I hope we minimize the amount
of response that we go. The Northwest, actually,
they had one of my guests on who have nurse navigation.
So they use 911 integrated telehealth. to take
away all those kind of non -emergent calls that
we shouldn't be responding. We genuinely shouldn't.
And empower the parent, the caller, whoever it
is to say, would you like to choose for yourself?
Treat at home, urgent care tomorrow, you know,
whatever the thing is. And that eliminates a
lot too. So it's okay for the corporate world
to take some of our calls. And we shouldn't have
to justify our existence. But the problem is
we've been asked to be the healthcare for the
entire country. which is wrong, which again,
circles around to a lack of leadership. First
responders should not be responding to non -emergent
calls. And especially with the fear mongering,
oh, but there was this one time where it came
in as a tummy ache and it, yeah, and that happens.
And you got to put your big boy pants on, you
know, make sure that we're being diligent. And
if someone falls through the cracks, you can't,
you know, it's not a foolproof system. Those
are going to happen, but you can't tar and feather
the whole profession because of these anomaly
events. And another point I wanted to hit on
too, when you were talking about the whys behind
it and why Andrew and Siento kind of stood out,
it has to do with the... person that Andrew is,
the relationships that we build, the person that
you are, James. I mean, Andrew connected us and
immediately was like, okay, this is great. You
know, we get it as people. And we can talk about
some of these things that are difficult to bring
up. And it's because you care so much, Andrew
cares so much. And the solutions that we're providing
come from places that are truly, genuinely here
to help. And not just Fugazi idea pie in the
sky, but let's get in the field. Let's try it
out. see how it works and move forward from it.
Let's look at the data. What happens when we
respond to every single call? Well, bad things
happen. Okay. Then let's make an adjustment here.
Let's be rational. Let's be logical. Let's use
the information at our disposal and not be just
stuck in one way of doing one thing the same
every single time, just because that's how the
last group did it. So I think it's definitely
important to have these conversations. We're
making the changes slowly, but it's happening.
actually faster than I would honestly expect
it to in the fire service. So it's encouraging
for me to see. And, you know, it's a real pleasure
to be in these conversations. I love it. I really
believe that we're at the beginning of a renaissance,
you know, in the fire service and hopefully then
the nation. I think, you know, we could be a
beacon of light for a lot of other groups in
this country. I want to kind of highlight each
of your products again, and then we'll kind of
wrap up. So with Andrew, with you, for people
listening. Talk about where they can find Ciento
and then what are the spectrum of products within
that umbrella that you offer? Yeah, so you can
find me on LinkedIn. That's a great way. I'm
pretty active on there. Our website's www .ciento
.io. If you want to try Ciento Sim, it's free
on there. Just click on Ciento Sim and do a quick
try now. um so we already kind of talked about
that so uh you know part of our product too is
is uh what people really wanted is like a peer
support management system so essentially we built
the operating system for you to run your peer
support team on so all of your communications
in an encrypted environment all of you understand
what ongoing requests you have but in an anonymous
fashion so we're not you know giving giving away
identifiable information but at least peer support
teams understand the workload they're under.
But then really what the approach we've taken,
you know, you hear a lot of culturally competent
clinicians that get thrown out. Well, we felt
like the solutions available, EAP and these other
companies that are coming out saying like, hey,
we have culturally competent providers for you.
We believe as a company that should not come
from us. So what we do is we bring all of our
agencies together. So we're in 14 states. we
bring them together and say hey put all of your
resources that you're willing to share with other
agencies into our platform so if you're visiting
seattle and you're in crisis you know you have
a vetted culturally competent clinician from
seattle fire or you're in san francisco right
we're uh there's some news coming out of san
francisco soon they it ultimately these organizations
are just not organized and they need this operating
system. And that's what Ciento has done is built
that. And then the mobile application aspect
of just connecting, you know, we have a network.
So there's nothing like this out there right
now. And that, you know, we give the individual
who's struggling the choice. Do you want to access
your peer support team or do you not feel comfortable
with that? And you can reach out to the network.
And then we use. the agency's peer support teams
to support each other so again that comes on
to that individual peer supporter am i ready
and open to taking something outside of my agency
and if they are they can get connected so yeah
it's super exciting uh we have a lot of growth
happening right now and change is happening and
other big partnerships happening so there's gonna
be a lot coming we're moving super fast and um
it's uh It's been a very humbling and lonely
journey, but I hate being seen. This is something
I learned about myself. I hate being seen. I
know it sounds weird, but at the end of the day,
I'm willing to go through that uncomfortable
feeling if it can save somebody's life. That's
what I'm chasing, and I know this is probably
not healthy. I'm chasing that feeling of saving
somebody's life again, and I want to save one
of my friends' lives. That is my goal. I've lost
five friends to suicide, and I'm done with it.
So whatever it takes to end this, I'm going to
keep going until it ends. Beautiful. Well, Blake,
same question to you. Yeah, so you can find more
information at easealert .com. That's E -A -S
-E -A -L -E -R -T. EaseAlert, we're on Instagram,
LinkedIn, and Facebook as well. I'm personally
on LinkedIn, Blake Richardson. So a lot of information
is on there. And we have a new website coming
out really soon here. So we also have a new video,
thanks to Andrew's feedback. And we've improved
a lot of those materials to help you come to
a website, understand what it is, and start bringing
it to your department. What it is, it notifies
you. It's your alerting system. So it can be
an add -on. Let's say you have the latest and
greatest. Your city just invested multi -million
dollar project on the latest and greatest fire
station alerting system. No problem. You can
add EaseAlert right onto that. So it's still
a great investment that you made. You don't have
to tear anything out. You're just adding onto
it and enhancing your capabilities with our tactile
alerting. So you can shake the bunk on the wrist
as well with the TAC pod. and then any other
wireless alerting solutions as well. Or if let's
say you're in a rural area, unable to afford
that multimillion dollar project, but need something
because you're waking up to buzzers from a high
school basketball gym. I've seen that actually.
You can get EaseAlert and install it in a day.
It's a wireless system. Like I said, you just
plug it into a wall outlet. You got your lights,
you got your tactile alerts. We even do audible
alerts as well. And it grows with you over time.
So it's fully modular designed for your needs
and your needs only today and into the future.
Fantastic. Well, I want to thank you both. I'm
excited to hear about, you know, when this does
begin to integrate as well. But for now, you
know, I think it's been an amazing conversation
hearing these two kind of systems side by side.
And, you know, again, as we said, layering these
solutions, one of the things that really just
irks me is when people say, oh, yeah, but it's
complicated. There is no greater rhetoric of
the coward than saying something like that. There
are multiple parts to it. Yeah, of course. But
when you go to the grocery store with a list,
you don't go, oh, but there's lots of things
I've got to buy. You just go aisle by aisle and
you buy the things that you need for the day.
It's the same as this. What are the problems?
What are the things that we can use to improve
each of those areas? So you guys have brought
two amazing platforms to this conversation. So
I want to thank you both for being so generous
with your time today and coming on the Behind
the Shield podcast. Thank you, James. Thanks,
James. Appreciate it.