Page 156 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Winter 2014
P. 156
Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC) Update:
Winter 2014
David W. Callaway, MD, FACEP; Reed Smith, MD, FACEP; Geoff Shapiro, EMT-P
General
Boston EMS hosted a highly successful TA on Wednes-
The past 3 months have seen continued expansion of day, 10 September 2014. The Boston program was highly
TECC as the civilian standard for high-threat prehos- anticipated given Boston EMS’s national leadership and
pital trauma care. The principles of TECC are now be- the city’s recent experience with the horrific Boston Mar-
ing discussed for integration into state EMS protocols athon bombing. According to one Boston EMS Deputy
nationwide. No new guideline updates have been pro- Superintendent, you “had us at Hello”. The principles of
posed or voted on since the Fall JSOM update. TECC are critical not just for creating common language
across the Fire, EMS, and LEO communities, but the var-
ious law enforcement agencies that serve the Boston area.
FEMA Technical Assistance (TA) Programs
The Boston TA offered the additional unique opportunity
The TECC Technical Assistance (TA) Program recently to discuss Boston’s newly modified high-threat response
supported training deliveries in Chicago, IL and Boston, plans and allow planners to discuss their plans, best prac-
MA. The TECC TA is sponsored and supported by the tices, and capabilities during atypical incidents.
FEMA Office of Counterterrorism and Security Pre-
paredness that sends a team of three C-TECC members Ongoing planning is under way with other jurisdic-
to the requesting jurisdiction in order to deliver a one- tions such as Atlanta to schedule additional TA sessions.
day seminar explaining the genesis and implications of Please contact the C-TECC via our website if you are
TECC, TECC guidelines, and TECC “In Action” and interested in hosting a TECC TA in the future.
implementation. The TA is an opportunity for all public
safety and healthcare disciplines to expand their knowl-
edge base regarding best practices and implementation Training and Education
strategies of TECC. Many Northern Virginia Fire and EMS agencies in the
National Capital Region are conducting TECC Train
The Chicago Police Department SWAT Team and North- the Trainer sessions as part of their program to roll-out
western Memorial Hospital hosted the Chicago TECC TECC and Rescue Task Force training to their jurisdic-
TA on Friday, August 29, 2014. Nearly 200 participants tions. The program is supported by the Northern Vir-
from fire, EMS, law enforcement, and regional hospitals ginia Emergency Response System (NVERS) which is an
attended the program. The presentations covered a vari- interagency, interdisciplinary, interjurisdictional orga-
ety of topics including elements of the TECC guidelines nization that “supports a regional approach to coordi-
which are applicable to law enforcement officers in an nated preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery
“officer down” situation, healthcare providers and cli- across jurisdictional boundaries during day-to-day emer-
nicians in regards to the advanced tenants of Evacuation gencies and multi-jurisdictional and/or multi- discipline
Care and damage control resuscitation, and strategies incidents through strategic planning, priority-setting,
for implementing escorted warm zone or Rescue Task information sharing, training, exercises, equipment ac-
Force programs to respond to high-threat events. quisition, and policy-making.” NVERS utilized grant
funding to develop a video-based TECC didactic pro-
As a result of the FEMA TA, CPD SWAT is currently gram that will be coupled with psychomotor skills train-
running their own in-house EMT-Basic course for cur- ing and verification conducted by agency trainers who
rent SWAT officers. This is the first one being conducted are trained during these sessions. Each jurisdiction and
with the purpose of building a tiered tactical medical agency has somewhat of a varied approach to their Res-
support program consisting of paramedics, EMT-Bs, cue Task Force program, but patient care modalities and
and SA/BA training for the nonmedical SWAT officers. equipment are standardized through this program that
Each of these levels will be trained in TECC. is based on TECC.
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