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6" x 8.75" trade paperback, 212 pages
ISBN 978-0-9789546-0-4
$14.99
Book is available from Amazon or Gary Dougherty, the author
Sample Pages
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A Slippery Slope: A Middle Aged Guy's Bumpy Run from Early Retirement ... to Ski Bum ... to Ski Patroller ... to Physician Assistant!
by Gerry Dougherty
In the spring of 2002, Gerry Dougherty, then 48, found himself hurtling down a trail on New Hampshire's Gunstock Mountain, toboggan in tow, bellowing for skiers to clear the way - a rookie ski patroller on his way to respond to, in his words, "God only knew what. I couldn't think about the frightening wailing I'd heard in the background when Karen radioed for help. I could only ski for all I was worth and hope I was equal to whatever I would find in the woods off the trail below me."
A year earlier, Dougherty was trying to settle into life as a recently-retired businessman-turned-ski-and-boat bum, but loneliness had set in; everyone he knew was busy working. Mid-week, he had the ski slopes and lakes to himself. A chance remark by a guy behind a deli counter inspired him to sign up for Ski Patrol school.
Candidly admitting he decided to become a patroller in good part for the free skiing, Dougherty never gave a moment's thought to the realities of practicing emergency medicine on an incline. His first clue: patroller class met in the first aid room at the base of the mountain. Dose two of reality: the second class was cancelled. That was the night of September 11, 2001. Many patrollers are EMTs. They were all on their way to New York.
What Gerry learned by the end of that rookie season: that he had a passion for emergency medicine. A Slippery Slope takes the reader along for the ride as a guy with a life-long love for skiing and too much time on his hands became a certified patroller, got into - and back out of - nursing school, en route to becoming, in 2006, a newly-minted 52-year-old physician assistant. Part diary, part memoir, this book is one run that occasionally tugs at the emotions, and offers plenty of laughs along the way.
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