Facing the Broken Healer Crisis! a firetender's journey through the healing arts

A GUIDEBOOK FOR THE HEALER INSIDE!

In 1969 Russ Reina, a firetender, set his intention to be a vehicle of healing. He began a 55-year exploration of what it means to live a life in service to others.

He entered a 16-year career in allopathic medicine, becoming one of the first Mobile Intensive Care Unit (MICU) Paramedics in the U.S. You cannot find a more grounded endeavor than living and working on the edge of life and death!

But he began questioning the medical system of which he was a part.

That led him off the beaten path into a multi-faceted journey through many aspects of the healing arts including alternative forms of medical treatment, the human potential movement, acting, stand-up comedy, film-making, art, energy medicine and tending fire for one of the last traditional Oglala medicine families on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for ancient, sacred healing ceremonies.

He articulated his experiences. He placed emphasis on what he learned in the back of an ambulance. It became a touchstone for him and a window into the deterioration of modern medicine. 

It also taught him what it takes to be a healer.

In 2023 Russ documented a pattern of institutional forces sapping the people of their autonomy. The people blindly acquiesced to that authority. He decided to utilize his life to combat this assault by strengthening healers resolve and skills..

He had become a Broken Healer. He had to face that before he could go further. He documented the history of medicine as reflected by the paramedic program. It exemplified a huge shift in the orientation of practitioners from being healers to becoming Flesh Mechanics. Patients had become experiments.

Sorting through 30 years of published writings, and 40 years of photography, Russ incorporated his experience into this guidebook.  It was designed to help the individual, as well as practitioners of all stripes, to better understand the forces working against them.  It offers a practical approach to attaining the personal strength necessary for all to reclaim their humanity. Here is a path for everyone to help build a better future, NOW and for upcoming generations.