From Mark's Desk

There’s a day in my life I’ll never forget because it forced a pivot that shaped everything that came after. Back when I was working full-time in EMS, my wife and I had just signed papers on new property. We were excited, planning our future, doing what most folks do when they believe the ground beneath them is steady. Then everything shifted without warning.

One morning, I walked into work and saw suit-and-tie strangers standing there. The people who weren’t even on duty had shown up too. That was the first sign something was wrong. A short time later, we got the news: the company sold us out. Salaries were cut, benefits stripped, and the stability we thought we had was gone overnight.

With new financial pressure and a house note waiting, I had to figure out a solution fast. I picked up extra construction work just to keep our heads above water. And while working those jobs, I met someone who looked me straight in the eye and said I needed to go take a three-week class in Catoosa, Oklahoma to become an insurance adjuster. I already knew construction. All I needed to learn were the policies and I did. Plus, my dad was considering the same path, so I took the leap.

In 2000, St. Louis was hit with one of the worst hailstorms I have ever seen in my life. Windows shattered. Car hoods looked like someone had dropped boulders on them. Roofs were wrecked. Entire parts of the city were unlivable. I was handed 100 claims at once, expected to make contact with every single person within 24 hours, all while communications were down, towers were out, phones weren’t working, and families had no roofs over their heads. To most people, that would sound impossible. To me, it was a familiar feeling.

I had already lived inside chaos before, in EMS. I knew what emergencies looked like. I knew how to triage, how to act under pressure, how to breathe when everyone else was panicking. I took the same mindset that served me in medicine and applied it there. How to move fast and smart all the while staying calm and do what helps people first. Because those claims weren’t paperwork, they were families with destroyed homes, people who needed a place to sleep, individuals staring at devastation with no idea what to do next.

That pivot, forced by economic pressure and uncertainty, opened the door to everything that followed. It led to catastrophe work, management, leadership of large teams, deep investigative work, and years of sharpening skills that I never would’ve gained if things had stayed comfortable.

If EMS taught me how to serve, then that storm taught me how to lead under fire. It was the day I learned that crisis doesn’t break you, it exposes you. And if you’re willing to stand in the middle of the mess, listen to people, and take action when things are at their worst, you can become part of the solution instead of part of the panic. That’s a lesson I’ve carried into every chapter since including the one I’m in now in earning your support and vote.