Page 3 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Fall 2016

from the
PUBLISHER and EDITOR

reparedness.” The Boy Scout more trauma patients.” Lenworth Ja-
“Pmotto of “Be prepared” was cobs, director of the Trauma Institute
created so that a scout would prepare at Hartford (Conn.) Hospital, would
through previous thinking and practice like to see tourniquets next to every au-
to act effectively during any accident tomated defibrillator and installed into
or emergency. Never has preparedness Michelle DuGuay Landers new cars.
been more important for those who
respond to save lives, whether on the battlefield, in a In Bringing Calm to Chaos, which is a critical incident
remote or austere environment, or answering a call to a review of the San Bernardino public safety response to
bombing in New York or Boston, a fertilizer plant ex- the December 2, 2015, terrorist shooting incident at
plosion in West, Texas, or the shooting of a police of- the Inland Regional Center, it is concluded that “both
ficer in Vihti, Finland. The JSOM is devoted to those responders and victims to the terrorist attacks in San
who put themselves in harm’s way to save others, and Bernardino reported that active shooter training had
Unconventional Warfare/Unconventional Medicine re- taught them the skills they needed to protect them-
mains the theme. selves and others. For the public, active shooter train-
ing should be planned and should not be a surprise to
There is continued research into ways that first respond- trainees. For public safety officers, training should simu-
ers can save lives. The “swoop and scoop” ambulances, late high-stress situations and prepare them to identify
and their crews, have been changed to “stay and play” and protect against secondary devices. Training should
responses, in which the equipment available and the ex- be inclusive, involving not only public safety agencies
pertise of the crew enable lives to be saved. but also the medical community, legislators, other gov-
ernmental organizations, faith leaders, mental health
There are efforts to ensure that all first responders are providers, and others. Training should extend past the
prepared to save lives at the scene. For example, the initial response into transition to victim extraction and
Brookfield Fire Department has a new hands-free Lu- all the way through family notifications.
cas device to automatically apply CPR compressions,
enabling the responder to simultaneously work on stop- “Agencies should ensure that their departments have the
ping a bleed, if need be. Since acquiring the device, it has equipment and technology necessary to protect and in-
been used 16 times and saved six lives. form their communities and themselves in active shooter
or other hostile events” (see pg. vii).
After the deadliest mass shooting in US history, at an
Orlando, Florida, nightclub, the American Medical As- In addition to having lifesaving equipment, it is im-
sociation House of Delegates approved a new policy portant to constantly practice for the inevitable future
to encourage hemorrhage control training for first re- attacks and natural disasters. The Alameda County
sponders and the public to save more trauma victims’ Sheriff’s Office in California organizes an annual train-
lives. Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, AMA Board Member ing event, Urban Shield, which continues to develop and
and US Navy combat veteran, said, “We believe that by prepare a multitude of emergency workers for terrorist
equipping the public, police, and others who are first attacks and natural disasters (see pg. vi and 76).
on the scene of a traumatic event with training and sup-
plies to control bleeding, we will also be able to help save —Michelle DuGuay Landers

i