The Yellow Brick Road exists to help EMS professionals think clearly, make better decisions, and show up consistently—especially under pressure.

Every ambulance call requires hundreds of decisions, whether you realize it or not. Most EMS education focuses on what to do. The focus is on competence rather than mindset and honestly, it has to be. EMS education is built around producing a competent, street ready provider and an individual that can pass a certifying exam.

For that reason, far less time is spent teaching providers how to think through a call in a way that is systematic, repeatable, and sustainable over an entire career.

That gap is why the Yellow Brick Road was created.

The Origin of the Yellow Brick Road

The Yellow Brick Road (YBR) was created by John Holliday, a career paramedic whose life’s work has centered on building a systematic approach to running calls—one that works regardless of call type, patient presentation, or acuity.

The YBR is a framework designed to support providers at every level, from EMR to critical care paramedic and beyond. Over the years, John has helped hundreds of EMS professionals refine their thinking, improve consistency, and become more competent and confident providers in the field.

One of those students is Willow Chavez, now co-founder of The Yellow Brick Road.

Our goal is to help providers understand decision-making under pressure, apply structured assessment using the YBR method, and utilize a system that actually works in the real world — on every call, with every patient.

What Makes the Yellow Brick Road Different

Drawing from military and para-military training concepts, civilian EMS experience, psychology, and decades of trial and refinement, the YBR was developed to organize the many moving parts of an ambulance call into a single, reliable framework.

None of the concepts are new.
What is different is how they are intentionally organized.

The Yellow Brick Road takes ideas that are scattered throughout EMS education and brings them together into a clear, duplicatable process that can be applied on every call, regardless of environment or acuity.

Our Role

Yellow Brick Road Learning is co-founded and led by Willow Chavez, who works alongside John to evolve, teach, and expand the YBR philosophy.

Together, we focus on translating the method into practical education, discussion, and community—while ensuring it remains aligned with current standards of care, evidence-based practice, and the realities of modern EMS.

The Yellow Brick Road is not static.
Medicine evolves.
EMS evolves.
So does the YBR.

Thank you for being here with us. This is meant to be a community and a collaborative endeavor, so if you ever have questions please go to Contact us below and let us know what’s on your mind.