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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nCox has been with the KCFD for the past four and a half years, but his paramedic career goes back much further than that. He started in Cameron as a volunteer firefighter and EMT. He then spent four years at the Northern Regional Ambulance District in Smithville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He decided he wanted to go to medical school, so he changed course slightly. He moved to the Kansas City area and went to work as a paramedic for St. Luke\u2019s Health System. He earned two Bachelor\u2019s degrees and nearly completed a Master\u2019s degree in Emergency Service Administration before attending Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He had to give up that pursuit because of extenuating financial circumstances, and returned to Kansas City. He got a job as a firefighter paramedic with Station 27 of the KCFD in Kansas City\u2019s old Northeast neighborhood in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About two years into his stint with Station 27, there were two events that changed everything. First, he suffered a career-altering shoulder injury. During a routine housefire, he was disconnecting a water-laden hose from the truck when he felt something pop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBasically, I felt it from my neck all the way down my arm,\u201d he said. \u201cMy whole brachial plexus went numb. I couldn\u2019t use my arm. I tried to wake it back up and slap it around. Eventually, I was able to get some grip, and I was able to finish the disconnection and finish the call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI knew it wasn\u2019t working right, but I didn\u2019t really feel any pain at the time. I went home after shift and got some sleep. When I woke up, there was excruciating pain from my shoulder area down my arm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Within two weeks of the injury, his girlfriend\u2019s daughter suffered her first seizure while at school. He was the first EMS provider on the scene. He was able to stabilize her until the ambulance arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That trauma smashed the wall he had built between work and home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How he coped with stress from the job had to change. Prior to The Battle Within, he compartmentalized and ignored it. But TBW showed him that he was not alone. In fact, TBW showed him how to use his own ordeal to help others cope with their experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to destigmatize the mental health injury aspect,\u201d Cox said. \u201cWhen I went through paramedic school, we were taught that you\u2019re going to have a final call. Eventually, something\u2019s going to happen, it\u2019s going to be too much, and you\u2019re going to be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the culture shift that we\u2019re seeing. We\u2019re changing that mindset by giving students emotional regulation tools and connecting them with mental health resources early in their career to process the trauma they will experience in service to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNobody comes into fire or EMS because we\u2019re perfect. There\u2019s something that pushes us to do the crazy things to take care of people in these insane situations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cox says he loves paramedicine because every day is different and every case is different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMedicine is absolutely complex,\u201d Cox said. \u201cNo patient is a textbook.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similarly, recovery from job-related stress is never textbook either. Each person has to cope with it in the way that works best for him or her. Thanks to The Battle Within, Michael Cox can share that with the first responders he teaches.<\/p>\n\n\n
Blue KC supports the Kansas City community through impactful sports partnership programs<\/h3>
Blue KC Answering the Call program<\/p> <\/div>\n