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Bad Call: A Summer Job on a New York Ambulance
An adrenaline-fueled read that will stay with you long after you turn the final page, Bad Call is a "compulsively readable, totally unforgettable" memoir about working on a New York City ambulance in the 1960s (James Patterson).Bad Call is Mike Scardino's visceral, fast-moving, and mordantly funny account of the summers he spent working as an "ambulance attendant" on the mean streets of late-1960s New York. Fueled by adrenaline and Sabrett's hot dogs, young Mike spends his days speeding from one chaotic emergency to another. His adventures take him into the middle of incipient race riots, to the scene of a plane crash at JFK airport and into private lives all over Queens, where New Yorkers are suffering, and dying, in unimaginable ways. Learning on the job, Mike encounters all manner of freakish accidents (the man who drank Drano, the woman attacked by rats, the man who inflated like a balloon), meets countless unforgettable New York characters, falls in love, is nearly murdered, and gets an early and indelible education in the impermanence of life and the cruelty of chance. Action-packed, poignant, and rich with details that bring Mike's world to technicolor life, Bad Call is a gritty portrait of a bygone era as well as a bracing reminder that, though "life itself is a fatal condition," it's worth pausing to notice the moments of beauty, hope, and everyday heroism along the way.
305 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 17, 2018
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December 26, 2025
4.5 Stars
Mike Scardino, a young pre-med college student, takes up a summer job as St. John's Queens Hospital ambulance attendant (at the insistence of his parents). They think it will help him prepare for life as a doctor.
And wow. They were wrong.
And soon, even the thought of returning sends creeping tendrils of dread down his back.
I was enthralled. Wholly enthralled.
I absolutely love books that provide a slightly morbid look on life (i.e. Working Stiff or Stiff)), and honestly, this one just takes the cake.
It ensnared me from the very first page and held me close until the last. Every call he spoke about was captivating - the injuries, the mishaps, the bodies, they all were fascinating and the way he spoke about them truly humanized the ordeal.
Scardino expresses the very real and raw emotions in such a way that it just sticks with you. There were several moments that I just felt for this young man and the horrors he experienced.
It would be very easy to just list horror after horror given what Scardino faced but instead, he finds amusement in the odd moments and the little things.
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Heartwarming, heart wrenching and heartbreaking - this book has it all.
"Look, we'd love to stay and talk but we have to run.
There's more where he came from."
Mike Scardino, a young pre-med college student, takes up a summer job as St. John's Queens Hospital ambulance attendant (at the insistence of his parents). They think it will help him prepare for life as a doctor.
And wow. They were wrong.
But Mike made a commitment. And so, he always returns to the ambulance - every college summer and holiday, he picks up extra hours and late night shifts and despite all his efforts, the job gets to him.
"I feel like I have a fucking gun to my head... Well, so much for that. I have to do it.
How bad could to be."
And soon, even the thought of returning sends creeping tendrils of dread down his back.
And while he just signed up to work on the summers, he soon finds out that this kind of job that sticks with you for life.
"I was brought up to think of the human body as a beautiful thing. God's image and likeness. How could God ever look like this."
I was enthralled. Wholly enthralled.
I absolutely love books that provide a slightly morbid look on life (i.e. Working Stiff or Stiff)), and honestly, this one just takes the cake.
It ensnared me from the very first page and held me close until the last. Every call he spoke about was captivating - the injuries, the mishaps, the bodies, they all were fascinating and the way he spoke about them truly humanized the ordeal.
Scardino expresses the very real and raw emotions in such a way that it just sticks with you. There were several moments that I just felt for this young man and the horrors he experienced.
However, and this is absolutely essential, this book was not depressing.
"What often bothers me more than seeing how people die is seeing how they live."
It would be very easy to just list horror after horror given what Scardino faced but instead, he finds amusement in the odd moments and the little things.
Even in the face of the most gruesome of bodies and cases, his hilariously off-kilter observations brought much-needed levity to the situation.
"I know that late at night, in the morgue, when it's very quite, you can hear the bodies fart."
Overall, this one was absolutely riveting – it was gruesome, gory and surprisingly wholesome. I’m definitely recommending this one if you are looking for a in-depth view on the profession!
"I'm trying to figure out how he can be alive. Blood loss or no blood loss, he still shot himself in the head, and that's usually pretty fatal."
With thanks to the publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
"Nobody's getting out of this world alive. We all live with a death sentence, so why not do whatever we want"
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June 29, 2021
Movies and television programs about emergency ambulance services are popular, as evidenced by the success of the film 'Mother, Jugs, and Speed', and TV shows like 'Emergency' and 'Ambulance.' People are inherently curious about accidents, calamities, and medical emergencies, and "Bad Call" - which details the experiences of a young ambulance worker - is a real-life peek behind the scenes.
In 1967, Mike Scardino was an 18-year-old high school graduate who needed tuition for Vanderbilt University. Mike's dad - who ran a gas station/garage that serviced many ambulances from St. John's Queens Hospital in New York - wangled Mike a job with the ambulance service. The position paid well, and the boy worked there during summers and school breaks until he graduated college and joined the National Guard.
Mike Scardino
Mike either kept a journal or has an eidetic memory, because his work experiences are described in vivid and compelling detail. The book is structured as a series of ambulance calls, but Mike includes amusing anecdotes about his life, relatives, girlfriend, fellow employees, and more. Though Mike's stories hail from five decades ago - when the drinking age was 18 and there were no cell phones, texting, Twitter, etc. - most of his tales are not dated, and could well have occurred yesterday.
A 1960s Era Ambulance
Inside a 1960s Era Ambulance
It's a bit odd that Mike chose to become an ambulance worker since he had a "hair-trigger gag reflex" growing up. Young Mike got carsick all the time, couldn't eat pasta with tomato sauce (to the amusement of his Italian relatives), and was made ill by certain colors - like aqua-green. With a wonky gastric tract you'd think Mike would get sick when exposed to ambulance smells like decomposition, gangrene, and gastrointestinal bleeding, but he powered through - and could even endure visual triggers like carnage, blood, and gore.
Many of Mike's stories include tidbits about his partners, who changed all the time since Mike's schedule was erratic, and he filled in as needed. Some of Mike's more colorful co-workers were:
Fred - who hailed from the Deep South. Fred was as smart as a whip, skinny as a snake, mean as a mink, and looked like a turkey vulture. He was a good, knowledgable ambulance worker though, and Mike felt confident partnering with him.
Jose - who came from Peru. Jose was 5' 3" tall and had a strking Mesoamerican profile. He was barrel- chested, and - like many ambulance workers - extremely strong. Jose was also energetic, cheerful, and funny as hell....and being with him was like "being with an overcaffeinated clown."
Andy - who emigrated from England. Andy - a big baby-faced guy who was nicknamed Andy Panda - was one of Mike's favorite partners. Andy never graduated from college, but he was smart and well-read and knew his stuff around emergencies. Though he was only 19, Andy seemed old and wise.
Pete - who was Mike's boss. Pete was short and squat with the personality of a perpetually agitated crab. He was always angry, and he bullied his employees. Pete liked to torment his partners, especially the young ones, and - when a call came in - would always tell Mike, "Come on kid, let's go. This is probably gonna be the worst thing you've ever seen."
Big Al - who weighed over 300 pounds. Big Al had coke bottle glasses, and always kept a cigar stub in the corner of his mouth. Al's good sense of humor and claims of being connected gave him a 'Merry Mafioso' vibe. Big Al also had a prodigious appetite, and could put away a dozen weenies from the Sabrett's hot dog stand near the ambulance station.
A Sabrett's Hot Dog Stand
Over the course of Mike's ambulance career, he faced a wide variety of situations. Among other things, Mike helped deliver a baby; transported patients who were 99% dead; encountered corpses that had almost completely decomposed; saw suicides who had shot or hung themselves; transported people who'd suffered heart attacks or strokes; aided homeless people who'd been thrown out by their relatives; saw kids who'd overdosed; came across mentally ill people who were physically violent (to him); helped carry morbidly obese patients down steep, narrow flights of stairs; saw beat-up women who refused to report their abusive partners; helped at the site of a plane crash; and much more.
Among Mike's many calls, a few were especially memorable, including the following five.
- The Rule of Nines.
A call came in reporting 'an officer down in Maspeth.' An officer down call was always a rush, so the ambulance workers raced over and found a cop sitting in front of a charcoal grill. The patient was alert enough to describe what had happened: He was squirting charcoal lighter on the hot coals, and the can of lighter fluid blew up, dousing his legs in burning fluid. The cop didn't look too bad, and his legs weren't bloody, but instead were alabaster white.
The patient's injuries were assessed by the rule of nines. This refers to the fact that a burn victim's condition is assessed in units of 9%. The front of each leg is 9%, and the officer had the front of both legs badly burned, so he had third degree burns on 18% of his body. (A third degree burn is the most serious type of burn.) Eighteen percent may not sound too bad, but the officer died. The moral is, don't squirt lighter fluid on a hot grill.
- Jesus Speaks.
A call came in as "a female psycho in Jackson Heights." The 'psycho' was a little old Italian lady whose apartment looked like the gift shop at the Vatican, filled with Blessed Mothers, Jesus figurines, and statues of saints and angels.
The patient spoke English, but had a heavy accent. The daughter had called the ambulance because her mom wouldn't take her pills, wasn't acting right, and needed to see a doctor. The ambulance workers were very solicitious with the little old lady.
Ambulance worker: "Dear, it will be okay. We'll just drive you down the street to Elmhurst hospital and you'll see the doctor."
Little Old Lady: "I no ride in ambulance."
Cop at scene: "Dear, you need to come along with these nice men and you don't want to make a fuss for your neighbors to see, do you?
Little Old Lady: "They no gonna see me go in no ambulance."
Eventually, with much persuasion, the woman is escorted into the ambulance. On the way to the hospital, Mike is getting her information - full name, date of birth, etc. - when the little old lady speaks out in a firm, loud, monotone:
"I AM THE VOICE OF JESUS CHRIST
LET GO A THIS WOMAN RIGHT NOW
SHE AIN'T GOT NOTHING WRONG WITH HER
LET GO THIS WOMAN RIGHT NOW."
Mike interrupts to ask a question.
"I AM THE VOICE OF JESUS CHRIST
DO NOT INTERRUPT."
The ambulance passed under an elevated train.
"I AM THE VOICE OF JESUS CHRIST
IF YOU DO NOT LET THIS WOMAN OUT I GONNA MAKE THESE TRACKS FALL DOWN AND KILL ALL A YOU."
The ambulance emerged from under the elevated tracks safe and sound.... and neither the patient nor Jesus had any more to say.
- All It Takes.
A call came in: Man down. Motorcycle. When the ambulance arrived at the scene, there were two big men with Harleys, one sitting on the ground. The injured guy on the ground was Hank, who explained what happened: "We came up to this stop and I bumped Frank's bike from behind. I couldn't have been going more than 2 or 3 miles per hour.....it was just a tap. It doesn't even hurt that much but I think I may have busted my ankle. I don't think I should walk on it."
Mike figured he should take a peek at the ankle, in case it needed a splint before the patient was moved. When Mike picked up Hank's pants, his foot fell off. Not completely off. It was hanging on by the thinnest pedicle (narrow strip) and was essentially amputated. There was almost no blood, Hank had almost no pain, and he had no idea what had happened.
Mike put on a splint and left it to the doctor in the ER to tell Hank the bad news.
- Erosion.
A call came in labeled DIB (difficulty in breathing) from the roommate of a sick man. When the ambulance workers entered the patient's residence the stench was overwhelming - repulsively foul. The sick man was an unremarkable-looking guy, conscious and alert....the fellow next door. However, the patient's legs were covered in maggots from his groin to his feet....probably related to tissue death from diabetes.
Mike speculated that the man would probably lose both legs immediately, and it would be touch and go to keep the tissue death from spreading up through the rest of his body. Mike's question was: "How the hell can sombody sit on his ass for what must have been a pretty long period of time and let this happen to his body, without getting help. And how could the roommate stand the smell and not call for help before this."
- Two prisoners.
A call came in: Man down at LaGuardia. Possible overdose. When the ambulance arrived, there was a man on a stretcher, out cold. Before the man was wheeled out to the ambulance, a cop handcuffed him to the stretcher, both hands to the side rails. The man was a dealer who'd been sampling his own product. The cop was the designated officer who would go along in the ambulance, to escort the dealer to the hospital.
In the ambulance, the cop looked at Mike with an icy stare, and started to undress the patient....to Mike's astonishment. The officer pulled something out of the dealer's underwear, which turned out to be long, thick, flexible money belt....presumably filled with cash. Lots and lots of cash.
Mike was nervous and scared. He was a witness, and the cop was a crook.....committing a major felony. The cop slipped 'a tip' into Mike's hand....presumably to shut him up. It turned out the tip was only a lousy twenty bucks - for which Mike experienced "intolerable personal stress and laid his integrity on the line (under duress)."
Mike's parents wanted him to be a doctor, but his college drinking, poor study habits, bad grades, and unpleasant ambulance experiences put the kibosh on that idea....and Mike eventually went into advertising. Still, Mike's ambulance adventures gave him a treasure trove of material to write about, and I enjoyed the stories in this book.
I'd highly recommend the book to readers interested in the subject matter.
Thank you to Little, Brown and Company for a copy of the book.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....
July 27, 2018
What's the worst thing you've ever seen. Everybody has a different Worst Hall of Fame. As far as I'm concerned, every call we get (except most maternities) is a bad call by definition. Who calls an ambulance unless something bad has happened in the first place. From that point on, it's simply a matter of degree.
My dad and I never missed an episode of Emergency, that seventies "classic" about paramedics, firefighters, and the women who love them. Hell, I even sat through Mother, Jugs & Speed - a movie about ambulance drivers that starred both Bill Cosby AND Raquel Welch - in the theater!
If it weren't for the fact that the sight of blood outside the human body makes me queasy, I might have been an ambulance driver. So, when the publisher offered me a chance to read this book, you'd better believe I jumped on it - like flies on a moldering corpse. Oops! Sorry. But if that thought made you woozy, you might consider skipping this one. It's gory and disturbing, and filled with nightmare-inducing imagery. I lost count of the number of times I said "Holy shit!"
Mike Scardino paid for college by working ridiculously long hours at a NYC ambulance company. He saw humanity at its worst, saddest, and most terrifying. He dealt with both stabbing AND stabby victims, distraught loved ones, and smelly, bloated dead people.
I have a few quibbles over the way the book was written. I'm not sure why a story that took place in the late sixties is told in the present tense, but it's a little disconcerting. The author also poses questions that have no question marks at the end of the sentence. Did I notice this. Was I annoyed by this. Did it distract too much from my enjoyment of the book. Yes. Yes. And, no.
I'd definitely recommend this one to any unsqueamish readers interested in reading about medical emergencies, and all the horrific things that can happen to a human body.
My dad and I never missed an episode of Emergency, that seventies "classic" about paramedics, firefighters, and the women who love them. Hell, I even sat through Mother, Jugs & Speed - a movie about ambulance drivers that starred both Bill Cosby AND Raquel Welch - in the theater!
If it weren't for the fact that the sight of blood outside the human body makes me queasy, I might have been an ambulance driver. So, when the publisher offered me a chance to read this book, you'd better believe I jumped on it - like flies on a moldering corpse. Oops! Sorry. But if that thought made you woozy, you might consider skipping this one. It's gory and disturbing, and filled with nightmare-inducing imagery. I lost count of the number of times I said "Holy shit!"
Mike Scardino paid for college by working ridiculously long hours at a NYC ambulance company. He saw humanity at its worst, saddest, and most terrifying. He dealt with both stabbing AND stabby victims, distraught loved ones, and smelly, bloated dead people.
I have a few quibbles over the way the book was written. I'm not sure why a story that took place in the late sixties is told in the present tense, but it's a little disconcerting. The author also poses questions that have no question marks at the end of the sentence. Did I notice this. Was I annoyed by this. Did it distract too much from my enjoyment of the book. Yes. Yes. And, no.
I'd definitely recommend this one to any unsqueamish readers interested in reading about medical emergencies, and all the horrific things that can happen to a human body.
August 6, 2018
This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.
I am a bit surprised by how much I ended up liking this book. This book was quite a bit different than my usual reads but once I started reading this book I didn't want to put it down. This may not be a book for everyone but it definitely worked for me. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to read Mike's story.
I grew up watching the TV show Emergency and have been known to watch a re-run of the show every once in a while. I like watching a medical team in action working to save a life and it is really interesting to see how things have changed in the field in such a short amount of time. I was really quite interested in this memoir of an ambulance worker in New York City in the late 60's because that just sounds like an incredibly difficult job to have.
This book is made up of really short chapters with each chapter covering a different call. If you are looking for resolution on every case, it isn't going to happen in this book. The author takes the reader through the ambulance worker's role which ends at the hospital. These are not boring cases being covered in this book and there were more than a few scenes that may be too much for any reader that is a bit squeamish. I like a little bit of blood and gore so it worked well for me.
I think that one of the main strengths of this book was the author's ability to really bring these situations to life. The descriptions were very well done and I was able to easily visualize the scenes as Mike went through his days on the job. As the book progresses, we also see what kind of impact this difficult job has had on the young man just trying to do a good job. It was really very interesting to me how much this work has changed over the years and couldn't imagine having to do this kind of work without some basic precautions such as gloves.
I would recommend this book to others. There are quite a few scenes in this book that will stay with me for a long time. I have a lot of respect for anyone that works in the medical field day in and day out and think that the obstacles facing an ambulance worker out in the field would make the job quite challenging. Mike Scardino has a gift for words and has told a very memorable tale in this book. I wouldn't hesitate to read more of his writing in the future.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
Initial Thoughts
This was one of those books that I found to be hard to put down. This will not be a book for everyone but it definitely fit my tastes. Each chapter takes us on a call on a New York Ambulance in the late 60's. There is really a little bit of everything packed into this quick read and I would have to say that some sections can be a bit intense.
I am a bit surprised by how much I ended up liking this book. This book was quite a bit different than my usual reads but once I started reading this book I didn't want to put it down. This may not be a book for everyone but it definitely worked for me. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to read Mike's story.
I grew up watching the TV show Emergency and have been known to watch a re-run of the show every once in a while. I like watching a medical team in action working to save a life and it is really interesting to see how things have changed in the field in such a short amount of time. I was really quite interested in this memoir of an ambulance worker in New York City in the late 60's because that just sounds like an incredibly difficult job to have.
This book is made up of really short chapters with each chapter covering a different call. If you are looking for resolution on every case, it isn't going to happen in this book. The author takes the reader through the ambulance worker's role which ends at the hospital. These are not boring cases being covered in this book and there were more than a few scenes that may be too much for any reader that is a bit squeamish. I like a little bit of blood and gore so it worked well for me.
I think that one of the main strengths of this book was the author's ability to really bring these situations to life. The descriptions were very well done and I was able to easily visualize the scenes as Mike went through his days on the job. As the book progresses, we also see what kind of impact this difficult job has had on the young man just trying to do a good job. It was really very interesting to me how much this work has changed over the years and couldn't imagine having to do this kind of work without some basic precautions such as gloves.
I would recommend this book to others. There are quite a few scenes in this book that will stay with me for a long time. I have a lot of respect for anyone that works in the medical field day in and day out and think that the obstacles facing an ambulance worker out in the field would make the job quite challenging. Mike Scardino has a gift for words and has told a very memorable tale in this book. I wouldn't hesitate to read more of his writing in the future.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
Initial Thoughts
This was one of those books that I found to be hard to put down. This will not be a book for everyone but it definitely fit my tastes. Each chapter takes us on a call on a New York Ambulance in the late 60's. There is really a little bit of everything packed into this quick read and I would have to say that some sections can be a bit intense.
August 11, 2018
Bad Call: A Summer Job on a New York Ambulance by Mike Scardinois a book I requested and the review is voluntary. I could relate to this book since I was a nurse in an ICU in a small rural hospital where everything can to be patched up to go on or to be stabilized, or the closest hospital and only hope. Many of the things he talks about I also felt. I lasted more than a summer! Interesting read.
August 3, 2018
Remember the mid-70's TV series Emergency! ? Prior to DVD releases in the last ten or so years I loved, as a kid, to catch afternoon reruns on WFMZ, WPHL, or WWOR during the 80's and 90's.
Now take that show but imagine an R-rated version filmed in various Big Apple neighborhoods by Scorsese during his early Mean Streets era and you have Bad Call. Author Scardino was (initially) a Vanderbilt pre-med student who spent his summer / winter breaks earning tuition money as an 'ambulance attendant' - this is before 'EMT' or 'paramedic' entered the American lexicon - during that tumultuous 1967-70 time period in the U.S. The reader has a front seat in the rig as it responds to the usual traumas - car crashes, assaults, suicides - as well as other severe or unexpected medical situations. I don't know if Scardino kept a journal at the time or just has a great memory, but he graphically (and sometimes gracefully) recalls dozens of memorable incidents from 50 years ago.
Probably the only issue I have with the book is the lack of question marks. I'm not sure if it was the author's intended style or editorial oversight, but it was incredibly distracting throughout the text.
4.5 stars
Now take that show but imagine an R-rated version filmed in various Big Apple neighborhoods by Scorsese during his early Mean Streets era and you have Bad Call. Author Scardino was (initially) a Vanderbilt pre-med student who spent his summer / winter breaks earning tuition money as an 'ambulance attendant' - this is before 'EMT' or 'paramedic' entered the American lexicon - during that tumultuous 1967-70 time period in the U.S. The reader has a front seat in the rig as it responds to the usual traumas - car crashes, assaults, suicides - as well as other severe or unexpected medical situations. I don't know if Scardino kept a journal at the time or just has a great memory, but he graphically (and sometimes gracefully) recalls dozens of memorable incidents from 50 years ago.
Probably the only issue I have with the book is the lack of question marks. I'm not sure if it was the author's intended style or editorial oversight, but it was incredibly distracting throughout the text.
4.5 stars
September 25, 2018
This is a morbidly fascinating book if you are into gross and disturbing and strange true accounts of real life horror (yeah, that’s me). It takes a lot to gross me out but this book managed to do it. I do not recommend reading it while eating breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks.
Mike Scardino worked as what he calls an “Ambulance Attendant” to help fund his college tuition in the late ‘60’s. I think he wishes he hadn’t because by time the book ends, he seemed truly scarred for life after seeing and smelling some truly revolting and heartbreaking sights. The writing is unpolished but that is not a criticism. It felt natural, raw and almost like a personal journal. I love that it wasn’t scrubbed clean. My only complaint was the lack of question marks throughout the text. The lack of them kept tripping me up.
It’s not uplifting in any way and there’s only a wee bit of humor sprinkled throughout. The overall feel of the book once you’ve finished is pretty bleak, truth be told. People are stupid and have lousy self-preservation skills, yeah, but terrible things happen to everyone and there’s no stopping them usually. Babies fall out of windows, diabetes will come for your limbs, you will die and maybe no one will notice until the flies start to breed. Bad Call (and they’re mostly all bad calls here) is absorbing and once you start it’s oh-so-hard to look away but once you’re done you’ll want to find something to make yourself happy. If you like this kind of thing you’ll know it and you’ll want to get yourself a copy of this book.
Here are a few quotes to ruin your day (you’re welcome):
“What often bothers me more than seeing how people die is seeing how they live.”
And this one, it’s my favorite.
“Something is a little unsettling. It’s his blood. The way it feels.
It feels good. Warm as it is. Running down my hand and arm on this in seasonably cold night. Nice and warm. It feels really good.
God help me. What the hell is happening to me.”
Just pretend there’s a question mark there at the end, ok?!
Mike Scardino worked as what he calls an “Ambulance Attendant” to help fund his college tuition in the late ‘60’s. I think he wishes he hadn’t because by time the book ends, he seemed truly scarred for life after seeing and smelling some truly revolting and heartbreaking sights. The writing is unpolished but that is not a criticism. It felt natural, raw and almost like a personal journal. I love that it wasn’t scrubbed clean. My only complaint was the lack of question marks throughout the text. The lack of them kept tripping me up.
It’s not uplifting in any way and there’s only a wee bit of humor sprinkled throughout. The overall feel of the book once you’ve finished is pretty bleak, truth be told. People are stupid and have lousy self-preservation skills, yeah, but terrible things happen to everyone and there’s no stopping them usually. Babies fall out of windows, diabetes will come for your limbs, you will die and maybe no one will notice until the flies start to breed. Bad Call (and they’re mostly all bad calls here) is absorbing and once you start it’s oh-so-hard to look away but once you’re done you’ll want to find something to make yourself happy. If you like this kind of thing you’ll know it and you’ll want to get yourself a copy of this book.
Here are a few quotes to ruin your day (you’re welcome):
“What often bothers me more than seeing how people die is seeing how they live.”
And this one, it’s my favorite.
“Something is a little unsettling. It’s his blood. The way it feels.
It feels good. Warm as it is. Running down my hand and arm on this in seasonably cold night. Nice and warm. It feels really good.
God help me. What the hell is happening to me.”
Just pretend there’s a question mark there at the end, ok?!
August 5, 2018
Between 1967 & 1971, Mike went to college & paid for it by working on an ambulance. He didn't really want to do either, but he had a low draft number & Vietnam was waiting. Each chapter of this book is one memorable call. There are a lot of chapters. The writing is terse, but he still manages to fill in his thoughts, feelings, & enough background to draw each scene fully. Some are funny, but it isn't a pretty picture overall. Still, I'm really glad I read it.
I was given this book by the publisher without strings. I didn't ask for it, just received a PM here on GR asking if I'd be interested since I'd read some similar books. I was interested, but found it even better than most of those. Wow.
The book wasn't entirely without flaws. The pictures didn't do a thing for it & I really wish he'd used question marks. I believe he left them off because they were rhetorical; an artsy move that slows up my reading without adding anything. Otherwise, it was pert near perfect.
Highly recommended.
Similar books: None were quite as good as this one, though.
The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives
Death's Driver: The Life of a Body Transporter
Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner
Down Among the Dead Men: A Year in the Life of a Mortuary Technician
I was given this book by the publisher without strings. I didn't ask for it, just received a PM here on GR asking if I'd be interested since I'd read some similar books. I was interested, but found it even better than most of those. Wow.
The book wasn't entirely without flaws. The pictures didn't do a thing for it & I really wish he'd used question marks. I believe he left them off because they were rhetorical; an artsy move that slows up my reading without adding anything. Otherwise, it was pert near perfect.
Highly recommended.
Similar books: None were quite as good as this one, though.
The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives
Death's Driver: The Life of a Body Transporter
Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner
Down Among the Dead Men: A Year in the Life of a Mortuary Technician
November 20, 2019
As far as I'm concerned, every call we get is a bad call by definition. Who calls an ambulance unless something bad has happened in the first place. From that point on, it's simply a matter of degree.
When I was in my very early twenties, I worked for a while as part of the HR team for a hospital. My boss had worked on an ambulance for a time in his late teens/early twenties, much like Mike Scardino here, and over our lunch breaks, sometimes he'd regale me with a few gruesome tales. Don't get me wrong — I find no comfort in the thought of the average human being suffering — but there's something incredibly intriguing about these stories. Needless to say, when I learned this former ambulance attendant had written an entire book about his experiences, on the old TBR it went — and I'm glad it did.
Scardino's writing style fits the stories perfectly: blunt and to the point, brimming with cynicism and deadpan, and leaving little room for flowers and poetry. It adds a flair of real authenticity as it feels truly like you're being told this guy's memories and experiences, not dolled-up dramatics for the sake of selling a book. Many of the stories don't have endings at all, so you're left wondering about a lot of these folks. In other stories, sometimes you wish you didn't know. There are a few emotional ones, but mostly it's a bit awe-inspiring.
Needless to say, I recommend this for people whose stomachs don't turn easily, as Scardino doesn't shy away from the gritty details. I'm almost impossible to perturb, honestly, and there's a story in this book that even had me gagging a little (if you've read it: hands held out the window and piles of blankets, that's all I'll say).
content warnings: descriptions of gore, death, illness, child/baby death, abuse, assault, rape, racism, misogyny, mental illness, body-shaming (very brief)
June 27, 2018
Gritty, dark and compelling, on the surface, this is a raw account of the horror show of working on an ambulance in 1960s Queens. It plunges into the trauma dealt with and experienced by the author, who experiences a fall from innocence faced with reality's graphically brutal truths. On a deeper level, it's a profound story about the meaning of life, death and the downward slope in between.
February 4, 2022
I miss being a paramedic so much and these stories made me miss it even more. I didn’t want people to get hurt or sick, but I loved being the one to show up when they did.
Each chapter is like a short story, the general what of each call. It is graphic, it is brutal, and it is sad.
I saw a review on goodreads ripping this book apart because it wasn’t filled with stories of saving lives and happily ever afters. It is LITERALLY titled Bad Call. 🤦🏻♀️
Please don’t give books negative reviews when it is exactly what it is advertised to be.
Each chapter is like a short story, the general what of each call. It is graphic, it is brutal, and it is sad.
I saw a review on goodreads ripping this book apart because it wasn’t filled with stories of saving lives and happily ever afters. It is LITERALLY titled Bad Call. 🤦🏻♀️
Please don’t give books negative reviews when it is exactly what it is advertised to be.
June 25, 2018
In this memoir, the author recalls his time as a NYC ambulance attendant in the late 1960s. Each chapter details a call they had to respond to. It's a compilation of intriguing stories, written with both compassion and self-deprecating humor. Enjoyed it very much.
July 8, 2020
so i’m pretty much obsessed with paramedics. almost like i should go to school to become one or something...
obviously, i liked the book. the career has changed quite a bit since the 60s and it’s different in canada from the us but i still loved reading about what it was like to be an ambulance attendant back in the day. now there’s waaaaayy more education required so seeing someone work with basically no training was wild, i can’t imagine how they thought that was a good idea. his stories were well curated, there wasn’t anything boring or mundane.
my only issue was with the writing. he never used question marks but there were a lot of sentences phrased like questions. it was kind of weird and i wouldn’t recommend it. if it weren’t for that, probably would have been five stars.
obviously, i liked the book. the career has changed quite a bit since the 60s and it’s different in canada from the us but i still loved reading about what it was like to be an ambulance attendant back in the day. now there’s waaaaayy more education required so seeing someone work with basically no training was wild, i can’t imagine how they thought that was a good idea. his stories were well curated, there wasn’t anything boring or mundane.
my only issue was with the writing. he never used question marks but there were a lot of sentences phrased like questions. it was kind of weird and i wouldn’t recommend it. if it weren’t for that, probably would have been five stars.
June 27, 2018
Loved this book!! It's well written and offers a fascinating glimpse into the life of ambulance workers and first responders of another era.
I found that the author did a great job of balancing the shocking, often quite gory stories you would expect from this type of memoir, with a good amount of humor, empathy, and truly touching stories. There's darkness and sadness here, but also many moments of humanity and kindness that are always somewhere to be found in these jobs, and I think many people in this industry today will find the book honest and relatable.
It's definitely a memorable book in many ways, and I look forward to reading more from this author.
I found that the author did a great job of balancing the shocking, often quite gory stories you would expect from this type of memoir, with a good amount of humor, empathy, and truly touching stories. There's darkness and sadness here, but also many moments of humanity and kindness that are always somewhere to be found in these jobs, and I think many people in this industry today will find the book honest and relatable.
It's definitely a memorable book in many ways, and I look forward to reading more from this author.
April 29, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. It was fascinating. The stories were a perfect mix. Very good insight into what EMT personnel deal with at any given time. Written with compassion, humor and most of all, respectfully. I would like to read more from this author. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book.
August 28, 2018
This book was better than expected. Bad Call is a collection of short stories from author Mike Scardino when he worked for 4 summers on an ambulance in Queens , N.Y. The job was to help subsidize College tuition and be an intro into a possible career in Medicine. This job seemed to have cured him of that notion. The reason for my low expectations had to do with the fact that these "Bad Calls" took place in the late 1960's, early 1970's. My thought process was how could it be exciting since it was so long ago and how well could the author recall ? The author either took detailed notes or has the memory of an elephant. The stories are very detailed and descriptive. Scardino takes you on the calls, into his head and describes throughly some of his likeable and unlikeable co-workers. Though these stories are old the type of calls and results stay the same though today the equipment and personal protection is better. I found this to be a great book describing street medicine in an urban setting over 40 years ago. If you like reading first responder stories you will not be disappointed. Recommended.
August 15, 2018
I ended up loving this book and connecting with the author, even though I found it hard to connect with his voice at the very beginning. The lack of proper punctuation, while I understand is part of the voice, is quite distracting sometimes.
The stories and messages portrayed through the book are interesting, touching, gruesome and heartbreaking. The author has some wonderful moments of reflection that stand out and caused me to ponder on the fragility of mortality. I thought that the juxtaposition of these observations with the sometimes graphic stories was gripping. I'm glad I read this book, and it was quite entertaining and thought-provoking.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. The review above is all my own.
The stories and messages portrayed through the book are interesting, touching, gruesome and heartbreaking. The author has some wonderful moments of reflection that stand out and caused me to ponder on the fragility of mortality. I thought that the juxtaposition of these observations with the sometimes graphic stories was gripping. I'm glad I read this book, and it was quite entertaining and thought-provoking.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. The review above is all my own.
August 6, 2018
I received a free copy of this book from Little, Brown and Company.
I breezed through this book by Mike Scardino about the adventures he had while working for an ambulance service in between semesters when he was in college.
Another review I read criticized the book for being quite negative and victim-blaming. While the book is gritty and unrefined, I disagree with those statements. The author notes that the title refers to every call an ambulance receives (with the exceptions of births) being a “bad call.” It sounds like a terribly difficult job and throughout the book the author describes things that he and his fellow first responders do to normalize things that no one should see just so they could do their jobs and get through it.
The only thing I didn’t care for in the book was the sloppy use of punctuation. The author asks many hypothetical questions, but I don’t think there was a single question mark throughout the whole book. There were also a lot of sentence fragments. It comes across as a set of journal entries that were polished up to create a novel.
Story-wise, the book does not disappoint. The descriptions are detailed and surprising and I think they give a lot of insight into what the social climate was like during that time in New York City. It was interesting to read about Scardino’s experiences and how he struggled to integrate what he was doing with who he was as a person. There are also some very funny lines in this book that keep it from being too grim.
I very much enjoyed reading this book, it reminded me quite a bit of Bringing Out the Dead—one of my favorite books.
I breezed through this book by Mike Scardino about the adventures he had while working for an ambulance service in between semesters when he was in college.
Another review I read criticized the book for being quite negative and victim-blaming. While the book is gritty and unrefined, I disagree with those statements. The author notes that the title refers to every call an ambulance receives (with the exceptions of births) being a “bad call.” It sounds like a terribly difficult job and throughout the book the author describes things that he and his fellow first responders do to normalize things that no one should see just so they could do their jobs and get through it.
The only thing I didn’t care for in the book was the sloppy use of punctuation. The author asks many hypothetical questions, but I don’t think there was a single question mark throughout the whole book. There were also a lot of sentence fragments. It comes across as a set of journal entries that were polished up to create a novel.
Story-wise, the book does not disappoint. The descriptions are detailed and surprising and I think they give a lot of insight into what the social climate was like during that time in New York City. It was interesting to read about Scardino’s experiences and how he struggled to integrate what he was doing with who he was as a person. There are also some very funny lines in this book that keep it from being too grim.
I very much enjoyed reading this book, it reminded me quite a bit of Bringing Out the Dead—one of my favorite books.
November 21, 2022
As usual, I'm a huge fan of any medical book like this. I'm a sucker for stories about interesting patient cases.
Bad Call is Mike Scardino's story. He was a pre-med college student who took up a job as an "ambulance attendant" to help prepare him for a life as a doctor. He ends up working on the ambulance year after year.
The stories he tells aren't all wholesome and heartwarming. There are some morbid moments, which is the reality of the world.
He did an amazing job at humanizing the job and the stories.
Bad Call is Mike Scardino's story. He was a pre-med college student who took up a job as an "ambulance attendant" to help prepare him for a life as a doctor. He ends up working on the ambulance year after year.
The stories he tells aren't all wholesome and heartwarming. There are some morbid moments, which is the reality of the world.
He did an amazing job at humanizing the job and the stories.
July 22, 2018
Funny writing. Hope he made enough money from this book to get the question mark key to work.
July 20, 2018
Did you ever have the desire to be an ambulance attendant, now known as paramedics? Did you ever wonder what those guys do or see? This book recounts one 18 year olds experience riding in an ambulance in New York. He is far from 18 now but knowing a bit about New York and crime, I am presuming things would be similar today. I am a retired R.N. so I know that some of the gruesome things he describes really do happen. This is an enjoyable easy book to read. It is written in a casual style which is very appropriate since these are the experiences of a naïve, very young man.
I received this prepublication paperback in a Goodreads giveaway.
I received this prepublication paperback in a Goodreads giveaway.
March 3, 2019
This is a great book! It had disgusting, gross, sad and laugh out loud episodes. And it felt like Mike was sitting there in front of me telling the stories. Well written, easily read. His lovely wife, Barbara, works at South County, how about that!
September 4, 2018
This book is a page turner. Scardino writes about some pretty gruesome events in detail but so worth the read. His sense of humor kept me going. A must read, I love his NY attitude!
July 1, 2018
This is a nonfiction memoir of sorts about the experiences the author had as an ambulance attendant to help pay his way through college in New York City in the late '60s.
As a fan of true crime, I am definitely interested in books of this sort, that show a side of life (and death) that most of us are not usually exposed to. It is like a whole other world.
The book is set up as short sketches, most just a few pages, each focusing on a different call that the author went out on, his thoughts, his coworkers, and what happened. The cases that Scardino writes about are interesting, ranging from someone's gangrenous legs covered in maggots, to an extremely obese woman they had to figure out how to get down the stairs, to a man who is bleeding uncontrollably out the mouth (turns out he drank Drano).
While these cases are interesting to read about, the book as a whole comes across as fairly fatalistic. The author focuses almost entirely on bad cases (and bad memories), and I wished that there could have been a few more moments of heroism—a few good calls. I know that ambulances are responding when bad things happen, but they do save lives too. The stories tend to end on a sour note and after a while, I found them hard to push through. At times, it even slides a bit into victim blaming, which is not at all OK.
The writing also becomes repetitive, not only in the sense that the author actually repeats information across multiple stories, but also stylistically. The sentence structure throughout is simplistic and felt monotonous to me.
What I found most disconcerting about the book was that it seems that the author has some sort of grudge against the place he worked for, and it comes across pretty strongly in the book. He describes most of his coworkers in a derogatory way that borders on uncomfortable sometimes, escalating to a confrontation at the end that felt like he was harboring some bad feelings about his time there and really felt inappropriate to be in the book at all.
This book offers an interesting albeit depressing slice of what it was like for one person as an ambulance attendant. It is definitely not a complete picture. Perhaps the author was too young, perhaps he is still working through the trauma of what he saw back then. But this book doesn't feel complete; I don't know what the message is that it's trying to offer. It would have been interesting to get more cultural context of the late '60s in NYC, to see through a wider lens.
My thanks to Little Brown for my advance copy of this book to read and review.
As a fan of true crime, I am definitely interested in books of this sort, that show a side of life (and death) that most of us are not usually exposed to. It is like a whole other world.
The book is set up as short sketches, most just a few pages, each focusing on a different call that the author went out on, his thoughts, his coworkers, and what happened. The cases that Scardino writes about are interesting, ranging from someone's gangrenous legs covered in maggots, to an extremely obese woman they had to figure out how to get down the stairs, to a man who is bleeding uncontrollably out the mouth (turns out he drank Drano).
While these cases are interesting to read about, the book as a whole comes across as fairly fatalistic. The author focuses almost entirely on bad cases (and bad memories), and I wished that there could have been a few more moments of heroism—a few good calls. I know that ambulances are responding when bad things happen, but they do save lives too. The stories tend to end on a sour note and after a while, I found them hard to push through. At times, it even slides a bit into victim blaming, which is not at all OK.
The writing also becomes repetitive, not only in the sense that the author actually repeats information across multiple stories, but also stylistically. The sentence structure throughout is simplistic and felt monotonous to me.
What I found most disconcerting about the book was that it seems that the author has some sort of grudge against the place he worked for, and it comes across pretty strongly in the book. He describes most of his coworkers in a derogatory way that borders on uncomfortable sometimes, escalating to a confrontation at the end that felt like he was harboring some bad feelings about his time there and really felt inappropriate to be in the book at all.
This book offers an interesting albeit depressing slice of what it was like for one person as an ambulance attendant. It is definitely not a complete picture. Perhaps the author was too young, perhaps he is still working through the trauma of what he saw back then. But this book doesn't feel complete; I don't know what the message is that it's trying to offer. It would have been interesting to get more cultural context of the late '60s in NYC, to see through a wider lens.
My thanks to Little Brown for my advance copy of this book to read and review.
August 2, 2018
Loved the unique style of this book - wonderfully captures the author's past self without making you overly aware of the older, wiser author. Bad Call is full of humor and humanity. I may have had to skim over a few maggot-intensive paragraphs, but I definitely recommend this memoir.
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August 7, 2019This book definitely makes me appreciate our first responders. This young man saw things no teen should see. I would recommend it, but it's not for people who can't handle gory details. It also probably wasn't wise for me to read it before going to sleep because I had some weird dreams.
I have many questions and wished for a section that addressed a little more about the author. Why did he wait 50 years to write this. Why did he choose present tense for something that happened long ago. Did he receive counseling at some point to help him deal with his bad dreams and drinking. Why is each chapter written so that it can stand alone, sometimes even repeating info from previous chapters. Why are there no question marks in this entire book. (You can see how strange that is!)
I have many questions and wished for a section that addressed a little more about the author. Why did he wait 50 years to write this. Why did he choose present tense for something that happened long ago. Did he receive counseling at some point to help him deal with his bad dreams and drinking. Why is each chapter written so that it can stand alone, sometimes even repeating info from previous chapters. Why are there no question marks in this entire book. (You can see how strange that is!)
April 23, 2025
This book shares some interesting and vivid stories about the harsh realities of working in medicine alongside the vibrant personalities of his coworkers, but I didn’t enjoy the prose. The lack of question marks really threw me off, and although the author’s crass and uncaring attitude towards the tragedies he describes was likely intended to convey the (understandable) apathy he developed while working this job, I wanted to see more empathy in the author’s reflective moments. The narrative arc as a whole feels incomplete and unsatisfying without any demonstration of the author’s personal growth.
September 12, 2018
I liked this much more than A Thousand Naked Strangers, Kevin Hazzard's similar memoir of working as a paramedic. Both included the requisite number of horrifying stories and reflection on the effect of being exposed to so much death and violence, but Scardino's perspective was far more interesting to me. He seems like an artist at heart, and his empathy elevates Bad Call.
August 18, 2018
I grew up watching shows like "Adam-12" and "Emergency!". Every time I heard a siren in our neighborhood, I had to go see what it was. I wanted to be a firefighter when I was a kid, then I got older and realized my small stature would work against me in a highly physical job like firefighting. So I then decided I'd like to go into forensics because I have a morbid curiosity and well, what can you do with a morbid curiosity except use it, right? I'd started taking criminal justice/forensic classes at my local college, then wound up getting sick with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, so I had to give it up.
But I still have the morbid curiosity.
So books like this are right up my alley. I really enjoyed Scardino's stories. Sure, they were gross in some areas, but he was honest and told it like it is...death isn't always the "beautiful" thing it is portrayed as being on tv or in the movies. It's gory, it's violent, it smells. Sometimes it's shocking. Some of the incidents of injuries or illnesses that Scardino dealt with are also gory, not to mention sad, especially the ones who suffered because they didn't have anyone who really cared enough about them to get them help. There's the occasional philosophical bent, coupled up with a bit of dark humor. My one caveat is that you probably don't want to be eating anything when reading this book.
But I still have the morbid curiosity.
So books like this are right up my alley. I really enjoyed Scardino's stories. Sure, they were gross in some areas, but he was honest and told it like it is...death isn't always the "beautiful" thing it is portrayed as being on tv or in the movies. It's gory, it's violent, it smells. Sometimes it's shocking. Some of the incidents of injuries or illnesses that Scardino dealt with are also gory, not to mention sad, especially the ones who suffered because they didn't have anyone who really cared enough about them to get them help. There's the occasional philosophical bent, coupled up with a bit of dark humor. My one caveat is that you probably don't want to be eating anything when reading this book.
August 28, 2018
Interesting book about how the author spent his summers earning money for school by being an ambulance driver in New York. Easy read as a story per chapter so can pick up and put down. Some heart wrenching accounts of what he and his partners had to deal with and also the emotional changes he had to deal with.
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