Page 40 - JSOM Summer 2019

equipment are provided for use during the course. Interven- veterinary training to help injured police dogs. If a handler is
tions use real supplies from the aid bags, NOT verbalized. Stu- injured, the dog’s instinct is to protect the officer even if med-
dents are encouraged to bring their own gear to wear during ics are trying to help, so there is also training in how to safely
the course. CCEMS will provide medical aid bags, air purified separate a K9 from his or her handler.
respirators, and force-on-force protective equipment.
Day 5 also provides instructional blocks on clandestine labs,
The skills and scenarios in the course are recent, realistic, and crime scene and evidence preservation, medicine across the
relevant. Participants are not placed in unrealistic situations in barricade, and personal protective equipment used in conjunc-
an effort simply to stress them. Threat stress is induced in a tion with decontamination. Other experiences include crisis
realistic form and the participant receives education and tech- negotiations, surrogate care, and medicine across the barri-
niques to recognize and mitigate the effects of threat stress. cade working with real crisis negotiators using real equipment
Armed and unarmed medic training and scenarios are used to from mobile command centers to throw phones.
expose the participants to both sides of this controversial topic.
Among the activities on day 6 was tear gas training. Tactical
CCEMS is a Texas-approved education provider and issues CE medics will at some point be exposed to tear gas, so they need
credit approved by Texas Dept of State Health Services that, to know how to properly and quickly put on a gas mask, as
is accepted by the NREMT. It still exceeds accreditation stan- well as how to clean that mask once it has been used. They
dards as an educational product and requires achievement of also need to know what tear gas feels like and what to do
minimum standards to pass. If the standards are not achieved, for those who have been exposed. The students have to assess
the student is given a certificate of attendance. Successfully com- patient conditions and successfully triage patients in order of
pleting all objectives to the requisite standard results in granting medical need to leave the gas house. Then, before the door is
a certificate of completion. Not everyone meets the standard, opened, they have to take off their masks and breathe in the
and those who do not are not acknowledged as if they did. gas. In a real life law enforcement situation, they may end up
treating patients and continuing to work in an environment
The BTOMS classes get under way on a Sunday evening with where tear gas has been deployed.
a meet-and-greet social activity with refreshments followed by
registration and introductions done during an evening meal Day 6 also includes training in establishing a functioning mo-
together. Introductory classes are delivered and highlighted bile medical unit. Additionally, learning how to operate SIM
with a keynote presentation covering lessons learned from re- weapons gives those without any firearms experience just
cent operations performed by some instructors in the class. enough to get through the exercises on day 7. Active shooter
Teams are then formed and preparations are made for classes response training is essential and a hot topic. BTOMS active
and activites for the rest of the week. shooter training follows the Advanced Law Enforcement
Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Active Attack Integrated
Day 2 includes a few classes on conditioning and nutrition Response (AAIR).
and several practical exercises on near and far assessments.
In the morning, a physical fitness assessment is performed The tactical medic training culminates on day 7 with a com-
at Memorial Herman Athlete Training and Health (ATH). prehensive day of realistic scenarios. The drills included a
The assessment is focused on functional mobility specific to clandestine lab exposure with multiple injuries and a hostage
the job. Cypress Creek, ATH, and the Memorial Hermann situation in which tactical medics are called in by the Texas
IRONMAN Sports Medicine Institute developed a new testing Department of Public Safety SWAT team to assist. In the most
and training program for tactical athletes. The first year of intense scenario, the tactical medic students enter a building
using ATH in BTOMS was 2018, and it has proved to pro- where active shooters have wounded multiple victims. Some
vide a more functional and realistic physical assessment than are already dead, and the shooting is still going on when they
other standard tests commonly used in SWAT. CCEMS tactical enter the building. After neutralizing the threats, patients are
medics have participated in a comprehensive program that in- evacuated from the building. Outside of the building, triage
cludes conditioning and strength training, and have followed a begins. The “role players” are Cypress Creek EMS employ-
nutritional plan since 2015. This program has been expanded ees and volunteers who put on quite a show for the students.
to include all CCEMS staff and a wellness program. Then patients are moved in order of medical need and put
into arriving ambulances. The injured are then transported to
Days 3 and 4 include early morning formal physical training a field hospital set up by South East Texas Regional Advisory
with an emphasis on team building. For the remaining days Council for further lifesaving treatment.
of the class, physical training is built into the class activities.
Days 3 and 4 also include TCCC training with testing on the Day 8 culminates with a graduation breakfast ceremony and
evening/night of day 4. Because the job of a tactical medic presentation of certificates and awards. For each class, the fac-
is to provide front-line medical support in high-risk law en- ulty presents the best team with an award to recognzie their
forcement operations in case someone is shot or injured, day 3 excellence throughout the week. Each day during the week,
also involved learning about different methods of extracting a the teams are scored and ranked objectively on their perfor-
patient from the hot zone and then drilling on those methods. mance. Faculty and adjunct instructors are acknowledged
for their contributions to the success of the program. Each
Frequently in high-risk law enforcement operations, such as class has a nearly 1:1 or 1:2 instructor:student ratio. Grad-
an active shooter or a hostage situation, some of the officers uates of the program who demonstrate they possess the skill
on the scene have four legs. For that reason, day 5 introduces set, knowledge, and aptitude receive an invitation to return
basic veterinary care. Tactical medics are called on to treat as adjunct instructors. Those who go above and beyond are
any Special Operator who is injured, and they have basic extended an offer to join as faculty.

38 | JSOM Volume 19, Edition 2 / Summer 2019