About

“Education is not the learning of facts. It’s rather the training of the mind to think.”

– Albert Einstein

“Heavy lies the crown” is a common misquote of “uneasy lies the head that wears a crown” from Shakespeare’s Henry IV. It refers to the responsibility and insecurity of governing an entire kingdom. Likewise, “heavy lies the helmet” refers to the responsibility we face as critical care transport providers working in an autonomous and often unpredictable environment. Our minds are eased with education that better prepares us for any situation that we may encounter. That is exactly what Heavy Lies the Helmet provides.

Founded by two brothers, Heavy Lies the Helmet is comprised of industry leaders working in the fields of pre-hospital and inter-hospital critical care and emergency services. We are an accredited podcast, blog, and conference that openly discusses the world of resuscitation and aviation. We highlight caring for critically ill and injured patients in addition to the controversies surrounding their management. Though tailored to the transport environment, our information is applicable to any discipline working in an emergency and/or intensive care setting. We utilize the most recent evidence to provide applicable and accurate education that can assist in improving individual clinical practice and overall program operations.

We offer continuing education units to any listener and/or reader interested in obtaining credit for their progressive learning experience. For more information, please visit our Continuing Education page.

The Heavy Lies the Helmet podcast is available for listening on all major platforms including, but not limited to, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Amazon Music, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and iHeartRadio.

Mike Boone, BSN, RN, CFRN, CCRN, NREMT

Mike is an active flight nurse and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Heavy Lies the Helmet. He has over 13 years of diverse clinical experience with a heavy focus on multi-disciplinary critical care including neurosurgical and cardiovascular specialty areas. Mike has presented multiple times on the national level including collaborations with AAMS, ASTNA, ECHO, and more. He is a strong advocate for staff-driven initiatives, earned autonomy, and mentorship as a former AAMS’ Critical Care Transport Academy (CCTA) instructor. Mike’s special interests include tactile and creative approaches to the learning experience.

Bryan Boone, BSN, RN, CFRN, CEN, NREMT

Bryan is a former flight nurse, ED Director, and Chief Operations Officer (COO) of Heavy Lies the Helmet. He has over 20 years of extensive nursing experience that includes intensive care, emergency care, and high level leadership. He is well versed in unit operations, administration, and has presented multiple times on the national level including collaborations with AAMS, ASTNA, ECHO, and more. Bryan’s special interests include cross-program collaboration and research. He is also fluent in American Sign Language.

Dan Rauh, MS, AG-ACNP, EMT-P, CFRN

Dan is a former flight nurse practitioner at the University of Cincinnati Air Care, an active nocturnal Intensivist at a regional referral hospital, Heavy Lies the Helmet’s Medical Director, and faculty for AAMS’ Critical Care Transport Academy (CCTA). He has over 30 years of experience in fire-based EMS; retiring as a career Shift Commander in 2014. Dan has presented on the national level at CCTMC, AMTC, ECHO, and more. He has special interests in high acuity critical care, ECMO, acid/base balance, and simulation learning. Dan believes that checklists are critical in the execution of high risk procedures, and life-long learning is the only path to mastery.

Chris Sharpe, Paramedic, CFI

Chris is Heavy Lies the Helmet’s Chief Safety Officer (CSO) and was the recipient of the HAI 2019 Salute to Excellence Safety Award. His experience includes active SAR work as Founder, Chief Aircrewman, and flight paramedic at Black Wolf Helicopter Operations and is a former door gunner with the British Navy. Chris has been flying for over 33 years; having over 16,000 flying hours and 6,000 rescue operations to his credit. He is a safety and survival expert, teaching survival techniques to both civilian and military helicopter crews in Guatemala and the USA and authoring multiple publications on the subject. Chris is a regular contributor in AirMed&Rescue magazine and has provided medical support for multiple National Geographic expeditions and NGO Humanitarian and Rescue operations.

John Prochniak, MA, NRP, FP-C

John is an active flight paramedic and contributor for Heavy Lies the Helmet who has his Masters in Public Service. He has air and land based emergency service and response experience including 11 years in law enforcement, more than 20 years in fire/EMS, and nearly 15 years in emergency management. John’s flight experience includes all aspects of public safety including SAR as well as the management of a Part 133/135/137/141 aviation corporation. John is a self-proclaimed “aviation nerd” but has a particular interest in human factors as they relate to aviation.

Nick Zuber, DEM, NRP, FP-C

Nick is an active critical care transport and retrieval paramedic, Doctor of Emergency & Disaster Management, former flight paramedic (fixed wing), and contributor for Heavy Lies the Helmet. Nick has over 20 years of 911 emergency response experience including tactical, remote and austere environments. He also has experience with prolonged field care while being deployed over seas as a military contractor. Nick’s special interests include root cause analysis and system models.

Adam Tresidder, NRP, FP-C

Adam lives in Boise, Idaho and works full time as a civilian flight paramedic, serves as a flight paramedic with the Idaho Army National Guard, and is a contributor for Heavy Lies the Helmet. He also worked as a flight paramedic with CALSTAR Air Medical in California and is a former Marine. Having experience over his career in both pre-hospital and in-hospital emergency medicine and critical care, as well as the fire service and search and rescue, he has benefitted from the guidance of countless mentors in numerous disciplines. Because of this, he is passionate about “paying it forward” to others who find themselves on similar paths, so that they can be happy, successful, and safe.

Amanda Humphries-Ventura, MD

Amanda is a board-certified emergency medicine and emergency medical services physician currently practicing at an urban academic institution in Houston, Texas and serving as the medical director for a suburban fire department. She served as a flight physician with University of Cincinnati Air Care, where she served a term as resident physician assistant medical director, a flight physician for University of New Mexico Lifeguard Air Emergency Services, and a tactical physician for the Cincinnati Police Department SWAT team. Amanda has presented at the national level at CCTMC, AMTC, ECHO, and NAEMSP. She has special interests in traumatic cardiac arrest care, prehospital and provider stress and wellness, critical incident stress management, and proudly tells anyone that will listen that end tidal CO2 is her favorite vital sign.