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Colleagues Recall Popular Medic, Videographer Ted Setla
Michigan paramedic and filmmaker Thaddeus Setla is being remembered by colleagues following the termination of life support announced by his family Tuesday. He had been hospitalized following a cardiac arrest May 3.
Setla began in the EMS industry in 2000 and served in Alameda County, Calif., while bringing his artistic background and videography skills to bear in film projects like Level Zero, which profiled that system’s providers, and the Chronicles of EMS series. Over the years he produced documentaries, web series, commercials, continuing education, and other video projects, including the Code STEMI series, work at EMS World Expo, and instructional videos for the Resuscitation Academy, CPR University, and RQI Partners. He served as CEO and creative director of his own company, Setla Films; “chief storyteller” at the Positivity Project, which works with educators to teach the character strengths of positive psychology; and in recent years launched a cannabis business in Michigan.
“The EMS profession has lost a titan,” wrote close friend Tom Bouthillet, who created a Facebook group, “Memories of Ted Setla,” to honor him.
The union representing Alameda County 9-1-1 personnel has established a GoFundMe to benefit Setla’s family: https://www.gofundme.com/f/for-the-hero-of-level-zero-thaddeus.
“Whether he was making training videos or documenting the EMS experience, he was dedicated to using his vision to capture the human event,” wrote PIO Arcya Gomez. “Never playing it easy but instead finding the essence of what we bore witness to, the ebb and flow of life’s dynamic, he presented it in such a way there was no turning back, until you were full invested. Ted captured your heart as well as your mind, and he left you inspired when he was done.”
“He was someone who could tell a story in words and images, who could capture the feeling of our profession in a way no one else had,” agreed former Alameda County colleague Dan Gerard.
See some of Setla’s work here and more on his website.
