Meet Adam Meyer | Outlier Solutions Group – Event First Aid and Training Services

We had the good fortune of connecting with Adam Meyer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Adam, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Outlier Solutions Group was founded as a natural next step to the work I’ve been doing here in Atlanta alongside some of the best and brightest medical and spiritual/behavioral healthcare providers for the last 10 years. The fan convention community has a lot of unique aspects to it when it gathers, one of which is that it can present some challenges for folks who have chronic medical or behavioral health concerns, or who are just neurodivergent. 99 times out of 100, these challenges are easily overcome with some basic first aid and support from folks who are knowledgeable about what they’re experiencing and who can offer an intermediate first step between “do nothing and suffer” or “call an ambulance for everything” .

To answer that need, Usagi Medical Group was founded in 2017, and continues to deliver 100% volunteer staffed, culturally competent, on-site first aid services under contract with a number of local fan conventions like Anime Weekend Atlanta, Nerdi Gras, and more.

As that practice grew and developed, there became more demand for these services at smaller or shorter events, along with a demand for bystander and lay-rescuer training in those time-critical interventions like CPR, bleeding control, and more. That’s really where Outlier Solutions Group got started. There was a demand for a smaller, more nimble practice to take the best of the practice model at Usagi Medical Group and make it available to a wider audience and in additional formats.

Now at less than a year on, we’re rapidly building our community. We’re covering events in the fandom, circus, kink, LGBTQIA+, and performing arts communities, bringing the same trusted partner model to these understandably very cautious spaces when it comes to bringing in additional services, and seeing great success. Typically we can cut 911 dependence by over 95% for an event as soon as we come on board, which frees up resources in the community and simultaneously creates a more accessible environment in these spaces.

On the other side, we’re preparing the folks in our communities to be able to recognize when there’s a need to step in, and equipping them with the skills to provide critical, lifesaving interventions when an emergency occurs. Our Convention Rescue curriculum is wrapping up it’s first year with the Level 1 crash course intensive, and we’re anticipating expanding our offerings and services going into 2025. We’re also serving corporate and workplace clients, bringing our same integrated model to their on-site CPR, First Aid, and Safety training programs as we do in our events and open seating courses.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Outlier Solutions Group blends the best of what works, and gets rid of everything that doesn’t, to bring common-sense care directly to the folks that need it in these unique, temporary spaces that are constantly rising and falling all across the city. Fan conventions, community festivals, pop-up performance events – each of these spaces has unique qualities that make them different. While there is absolutely a role for 911 EMS services to play in keeping these events safe, it’s so often the case that many issues that occur in these spaces can be handled through preventive care and culturally competent first aid, delivered on-site, by people who truly understand the spaces they’re in.

We see the folks that use our services as whole people, who may have multiple concerns going on all at once, and we use a uniquely integrated approach that combines experienced EMS and in-hospital providers on the medical side with equally qualified spiritual and behavioral health professionals to look after the rest of their needs. We then cross-train our teams to be able to truly integrate and support the whole person at that point of initial contact, with a seamless approach to both physical and psychological first-aid.

We provide that first point of contact and professionally informed assessment that empowers the folks that find themselves experiencing a physical, emotional, or psychological challenge at these events to take control of their outcomes. We help people decide for themselves what the “right answer” is, rather than overtaxing 911 services and burdening the patient with more attention than they wanted, and often didn’t truly need. We always make it clear that they’re in control, and that we’re only a first-aid practice, but it seems to work extraordinarily well. In the rare event that a serious incident occurs that requires immediate, lifesaving intervention, we’re fully trained, organized, and equipped to provide that first level of care while simultaneously coordinating a 911 response, leading to much earlier intervention and much better outcomes.

From a community standpoint, we offer a cost-effective option for these events to be good neighbors to the communities that they’re in by proactively eliminating the vast majority of unnecessary 911 calls for issues that aren’t really appropriate for a transporting ambulance or fire department response. And for the showrunners, we provide a means for them to help keep their event running smoothly, and keep their attendees happy, instead of having folks leave early due to minor issues that are self-treatable with a little advice and some over-the counter supplies. The great thing about our model is that it’s entirely paid for by the events and organizations that bring us on board, so there’s never any cost to attendees and no billing or “tail” to the care they receive.

On the other side, we’re working to close the gaps in bystander intervention by delivering intensive courses that train lay-rescuers not only in basic skills like CPR, AED use, bleeding control, naloxone, etc., but also with a comprehensive view of risk management, planning, and factors that affect the spaces they’re in. We customize our training to the audience, so while one course may focus more on factors and trends that affect large convention spaces, another might focus on factors unique to circus and fire arts, or on a specific at-risk community. We’ve managed to find a pretty good balance to deliver both fully accredited certifications and the knowledge, skills, and abilities to employ these certifications in the spaces that our students will find themselves in once they leave the class.

Going forward, we’re getting ready to launch an online course catalog that we hope will make what we do even more accessible to a wider audience, and in 2025 we’ll be expanding our training offerings to give folks the chance to expand on the skills they’ve already learned from us and put them to the test in a live scenario environment.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
So my love story with Atlanta started almost 15 years ago next month when I ended up at Dragon Con for the very first time. That experience really set a high bar for me when it comes to cities, because while Dragon Con is a unique temporary circumstance, its existence has truly shaped so much of this city. Ever since then, I’ve become close friends with the strange and sublime. If I could get them here during Labor Day weekend, I’d throw them headfirst into downtown and watch the magic happen.

But for the other 360 days a year, there’s so, so much to love about this place. I’d probably warm up with a trip to the Red Phone Booth, followed by a walking tour through the convention hotels. Having spent so much time working and playing there, there’s a whole secret history in those walls that makes for phenomenal storytelling (ask me about the dent in the Atrium railing in the Marriott sometime).

We make our home in Stone Mountain, so some of our favorite spots there and next door in Avondale are big on the agenda. Our “home bar”, and the place we end up when there’s something to celebrate, something to mourn, or just in search of good company is Stone Mountain Public House. Jeff and Rory have built a truly unique space at SMPH, and Mia is one of the best bartenders you’ll ever encounter – half the time we just let her decide what we’re drinking because she truly does know better. For lunch, you can’t beat Front Porch, just a couple blocks up from the Public House – their birria tacos are just incredible, and the staff there is incredibly fun. Over in Avondale, My Parents’ Basement and The Stratford are excellent standbys, just depending on the night of the week and the vibe. The Po’ Boy Shop on Clairmont is another favorite of mine both for daytime lunch and then down to the basement for nighttime vibes and bigger group gatherings. A day trip to Stone Mountain would certainly be on the list, especially for someone visiting for the first time.

At some point during the week, I’d run them through Little Five Points and EAV to help them get the sense of what this place was and still can be (and just for the sake of having so many options in one place). Krog Street Tunnel is another great spot to just take in the space, and it’s a great photo op, and if we get lucky, we might catch Chavis Flagg rolling by.

In the summer or the winter, Piedmont Park and the Botanical Gardens is a great stop, especially over the holidays. I’d put our holiday lights up against anyone for spectacle and wonder. And it’s right down the street from the new Atlanta Eagle, which I’m incredibly glad to see is continuing to grow and thrive (even while the old building can’t seem to stop burning).

There are so many other options, but if I was taking someone through a tour of my personal favorites, that would probably be the short list.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
As I mentioned earlier, Outlier Solutions Group is a natural offshoot of Usagi Medical Group, also based here in Atlanta. The crew there really provided some of the early conditions that allowed this practice to develop, and has continued to do so. My partner Noel, has been an enormous believer in what we do here at Outlier, and has lent quite a bit of their knowledge, labor, and expertise to making this possible. If I was going to cite a single work that really kept me going, it’s Kevin Hazzard’s latest effort, “American Sirens” – there are a lot of incredible individuals that were part of the Freedom House Ambulance Service story, and I draw a great deal of inspiration from their early efforts.

Website: https://www.osgatl.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outliersolutions

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trainfortheedge

Other: https://maps.app.goo.gl/PUHybroNMHfMe9nc7

Image Credits
Adam Meyer
Noel Lemen
James Tollett
Amanda Tucker