You can be the hero someone needs | Ben Thompson | TEDxBirmingham

In this powerful talk, firefighter and paramedic Ben Thompson shares what he learned about helping people while proactively trying to improve the health of citizens in his community. Ben Thompson currently serves as a Lieutenant for the City of Birmingham Fire Department. In February of 2016, he was put in charge of creating a new program called Birmingham Fire and Rescue C.A.R.E.S. (Community Assistance, Referrals and Education Services), which is aimed at decreasing the dependency on emergency services by the city's most frequent 911 callers. During the same year, Ben was honored as the Emergency Service Provider of the year. Ben is also a talented writer. In 2015, Ben won a Hackney Literary Award Winner for his short fiction story, “Blue Collar and a Short Chain.” Prior to joining the fire department, Ben delivered flowers, traded mutual funds, worked a season in Alaska as a commercial fisherman, and spent a homeless summer in Hawaii where he met his wife Katie. When Ben isn’t writing or saving lives, he enjoys reading, playing with his children, learning about Birmingham’s history, and visiting Jim Reed’s Books. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx