Disaster at the Hyatt

On a summer night in 1981 in Kansas City, a crowded hotel atrium feels safe. Ordinary. Predictable. Then something truly disastrous happens. What follows is not just a collapse of steel and concrete, but a test of an entire city’s ability to respond when everything moves at once. Ambulances flood toward a single address. Dispatch boards fill. And across town, emergencies continue to happen with no one left to answer them.

This episode explores what happens when disaster doesn’t just injure people... it consumes capacity. When speed alone isn’t enough, and when emergency medicine is forced to confront a question it had never fully answered before:  How do you design a system that can survive the unimaginable?

Creators and Guests

Host

Evan Claunch

Flight/Critical Care Paramedic, Co-Founder of FlightBridgeED, Developer, Writer, Producer, Podcaster

Host

Sophie Fuller

Flight/Critical Care Paramedic, President TN Paramedics Assoc., Educator, Speaker, Creator, Podcaster

What is Past Medical History: The Story of EMS?

Past Medical History: The Story of EMS is an immersive audio drama that dives deep into the incredible, often untold history of Emergency Medical Services and the medical world that shaped it.

Hosted by paramedics Evan Claunch and Sophie Fuller, two seasoned clinicians and self-proclaimed EMS history nerds, each episode brings to life the defining moments, forgotten figures, and unlikely innovations that built Emergency Medical Services from the ground up.

Through cinematic storytelling, rich soundscapes, and dramatic narration, the PMHX podcast explores how heroes, disasters, and ideas collided to create the world of EMS we know today. Sometimes it’s dark, sometimes it’s inspiring, but it’s always real, raw, and rooted in the passion of those who answer the call.

Whether you’re an EMT, flight paramedic, nurse, or just someone fascinated by the stories that built emergency medicine, this is your history… told like never before.