By Laura Thill
For one Henry Schein sales consultant, volunteering with his local fire department has enabled him to put to use the products he sells each day.
Not everyone needs eight hours of sleep every night to stay sharp. But those who feel refreshed after a paltry four hours still need to find ways to fill the time. For some, that means catching up on old movies or filling out their reading list. For Joe Lutz, it began as an opportunity to put his photography skills to good use, and grew into a passion for helping others.
The Henry Schein field sales consultant has doubled as a photographer for his local fire department. More recently, he has served the department as a lieutenant and certified EMT. By day, he provides his physician customers with medical products solutions. In his spare time – be it the middle of the night or on weekends – he uses these products to save people’s lives. “Needing only three or four hours of sleep each night can be a curse,” he says. At the same time, if he is awakened at 3:00 a.m. to respond to a fire, well, that’s okay.
Sparked by photography
It was Lutz’s passion for photography that eventually led to the fire department. During his 30-year career as a sales consultant, when he was on the road, “I would have a camera in the car with me at all times,” he says.
“A neighbor, who was a fireman at the time, knew I enjoyed taking photos and connected me to the fire department,” he continues. One thing led to another, and in 2000, he joined the department as a volunteer photographer. “The department provided me with a pager, and I would run out at night and on weekends, when they needed volunteers,” he says. But, his volunteer work went beyond simply snapping shots, he points out. “I worked with the fire marshals, who educated me on doing investigative photography, which is an important side of this. They would want me to arrive at the scene as quickly as possible and look for signs of how the fire might have started,” he says. They would also use his photos to evaluate how the fire fighters responded on site, so that moving forward, they could proceed more safely, he says.
The next several years were an eye opener, says Lutz. “As a photographer, it always amazed me to see the circumstances that came together to create this tragedy,” he says. “And, most of these circumstances were preventable.” If more people followed common sense safety protocols, such as not plugging in too many appliances and overloading circuits, or simply doing a better job of cleaning up after themselves, many fires could be avoided, he says.
Even keel
The more he saw of how efficiently the fire department responded to these calls – particularly how they used the medical products with which he was so familiar to treat victims – he began to question whether he could be doing more to help. “Watching the EMTs and having a lot of the product knowledge from my sales position, I realized I, too, could work as an EMT,” he says. In 2007, he embarked on the necessary coursework to become certified. “This was a commitment, but I had the support of the fire department,” he says. “It took me about six months to complete the program.” Today, it’s a bit more intense – about 240 hours – and can take about eight to 10 months of evenings and weekends to complete.
Lutz also volunteers as a lieutenant, which involves scheduling all of the other volunteer EMTs for nights and weekends. If his job as a photographer was intense, performing his EMT duties can be even more so, he notes. “It’s a busy job,” he says. “Our department responds to roughly 5,200 calls each year. When I work duty crew, I stay overnight at the fire station.” When he’s not on duty crew, he’s on call, he adds.
“As EMTs, we warn everyone, ‘Try to stay on an even keel. We are going to a person’s worst day of his life.’” Indeed, he and his team see it all, from fires, car accidents and worse. “We jump in the ambulance and, while we are provided with information up front, we see what we are dealing with when we get there. It could be falls, lacerations, overdoses, cardiac arrest – pretty much anything. We stabilize the patients if we can and prime them for transport to the hospital.
“Sometimes patients aren’t thinking clearly, and we try to act as their guardian angel,” he says. “Recently, I was on a call for a gentleman who was homebound, with a lot of health issues. He wasn’t doing well, but didn’t want to go to the hospital. His wife was concerned that if he didn’t go, he wouldn’t make it through the night.” But, if there was reason enough for his wife to call 911, then it was important to have the patient examined, Lutz adds. “I was able to connect with him and convince him to go to the hospital, and his wife was very grateful.”
The work is often challenging, however. HIPAA privacy laws make it difficult for EMTs to follow up with patients to see how they have fared. “Still, every so often, we do get a note from a patient, thanking us,” he says. “And, we sometimes learn when a patient has passed on.”
As intense as it is, Lutz takes away a great deal of comfort from his volunteer work. It’s fulfilling, yes. But, beyond that, “the brotherhood is amazing,” he says. “It’s a family, and everyone looks out for one another.” The camaraderie has been a saving grace in the years following the death of his wife, Robin, three years ago, he adds, particularly as his children, Joseph III, Matthew and Ariana, have grown up and become more independent.
Hand in hand
Lutz is no novice to medical products sales. “Thirty years ago, I [joined] a mom-and-pop company (Tri-County Surgical) in New Jersey,” he explains. “I made medical products deliveries while I was in college, helped out with office set-ups and [eventually] had an opportunity to move into sales.” The company was later acquired by Caligor, which in turn was purchased by Henry Schein.
Today, his career as a medical products sales rep fits “hand in hand” with his volunteer work, Lutz says. Both call for excellent people and communication skills. In addition, “I am more in tune with some of the procedures going on in the physician practices, such as laceration [repairs] – how they’ll be treated and what type of sutures will be used,” he says.
If he has taken away one piece of insight from his work as an EMT, it’s this: “I am a firm believer that all offices (physician and non-medical) should have an AED on hand.” Particularly when an ambulance is coming from another call, “it may not be there when you need it,” he says. “Having an AED on hand is for the safety of the physicians, their staff and their patients.”
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