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Do You Use the EMS Field Guide?
Ever Wonder Who Designed It?
By Jon Tardiff, EMT-P
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Many of you know Paul LeSage as the Assistant Chief of Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, and as the Chairman of ATAB 1. You may also know me, Jon Tardiff, as a paramedic with Tillamook Ambulance, and a member of the Board of Medical Examiners EMT Advisory Committee. But in our spare time, we are also the owners of InforMed, publisher of the popular EMS Field Guide.
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Paul, Paula Derr, RN, and myself started InforMed back in 1988. We got the idea for creating a Field Guide when we realized we needed to look up important information during EMS calls. I had made a little booklet with a list of common prescription medications. Paula and Paul had printed a Guide with local protocols, ACLS algorithms, and pediatric dosages. We combined the two, bought an old Kroy lettering machine, and typed all this information on an electric typewriter (remember those?). After printing several small batches of these Guides for our colleagues, it dawned on us that this product might be useful to medics all over the country. So we bought an ad in Jems Magazine, and things really took off.
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Since that beginning in 1988, we have created four additional Guides for other providers, including BLS EMTs, firefighters, nurses, and police officers. We have also partnered with a software company (Med-Media) to convert our Guides for Palm devices. Our latest project is a Field Guide for Terrorism Response.
We're a small company, but we've become the market leader in Field Guides. InforMed outsells all of its competitors combined, including well established major medical publishers, such as Mosby, W. B. Saunders, and Jones & Bartlett.
Our experience proves that anyone can succeed. All you need is a good idea, and the energy to make it happen.
With some of the profits from sales of the Guides, InforMed donates to several charities, including OHSU's paramedic program. Lately, we've been working to establish a foundation to ensure that our charitable giving will continue after we're gone. Thank you to everyone who buys our products and has made our company a success.
Jon Tardiff, EMT-P
Oregon certified since 1976
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