About

Peter Canning has been a full-time paramedic in the Greater Hartford area since January of 1995. His first book Paramedic: On the Front Lines of Medicine (Ballantine: 1997) details his journey from speechwriter for the Governor of Connecticut to caregiver on the city streets. Rescue 471: A Paramedic's Stories (Ballantine: 2000) is the sequel.

He is the author of two EMS novels, Mortal Men (2012) and Diamond in the Rough (2016).

He is currently at work on an EMS thriller, Dead Man, and a nonfiction book about the heroin epidemic, Killing Season: A Paramedic's Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Opioid Epidemic.

A graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop, Canning attended the Phillips Exeter Academy and the University of Virgina. He has worked many jobs in his life: tennis instructor, aide to United States Senator, taxi driver, meatpacker, line cook, telephone solicitor, book and movie reviewer, factory worker, health department administrator, speechwriter and political campaign director before finding his place in life as a paramedic. In addition to being a field paramedic, he is the EMS Coordinator at John Dempsey Hospital, in Farmington, Connecticut.

Since 2006, Peter has been the author of the influential EMS blog: Street Watch: Notes of a Paramedic.

Canning lives in West Hartford, Connecticut with his wife, Chevaughn, and their three children.

Featured Work

Mortal Men

2012

Paramedic Troy Johnson battles trauma and sickness on the streets of Hartford, Connecticut. When a fellow medic is shot to death responding to a 911 call, a grief-stricken Troy vows to avenge the death, while struggling to come to grips with his own mortality.

Mortal Men examines the ancient bonding between friends and partners who count on each other to make it safely home. Written by veteran paramedic Peter Canning, author of the acclaimed Paramedic: On the Front Lines of Medicine and Rescue 471: A Paramedic’s Stories, Mortal Men provides a rare view into the real-life world of street medicine and into the lives of the men and women who fight its battles.

Other Works

  • Diamond in the Rough

    2016

  • Rescue 471: A Paramedic's Stories

    2000

  • Paramedic: On the Front Lines of Medicine

    1997