Mobile Life, Newburgh SWAT Join Forces

[Guest ocff75]

MOBILE LIFE, SWAT TEAMS JOIN FORCES

Local medics cover SWAT teams' backs

Herald-Record

September 20, 2006

Newburgh — The SWAT team pondered the little orange smudge.

Was that a fatal shot?

And what about that round in the groin? Looks like "a bleeder," one officer noted.

"Ask him," another SWAT member said, tired of the speculation, "he's the medic."

It was Thursday, a training day for the SWAT teams of the Town and City of Newburgh at the cavernous Broadway School. They had just finished shooting fake paint bullets from real guns at each other.

Little blobs, like bug splatter on a windshield, told where a cop playing the "bad guy" had taken out an officer.

Theoretically, three cops had been hit. One in the groin, one in the back, and one in the left arm. If his arm was just so, the bullet would have gone through to his chest.

The medic, a tall guy with "RESCUE" on the back of his black bulletproof vest, considered it. Yes, it could've been fatal. Theoretically.

The medic, Drew McKenzie, is not a cop. Never was. But when places like Newburgh or Woodbury send in the SWAT team, he and a handful of other "tactical medics" put on the bullet-stopping vests and arm themselves with bandages and trachea tubes.

As what McKenzie calls the "medical conscience" of tactical police work, a small group of paramedics from Mobile Life Support Services Inc. have been suiting up and slipping into area SWAT teams in the past few years. The for-profit ambulance service is filling gaps in local emergency services, what one police chief called "a no-brainer."

"If anything else, there's a comfort level there," said Lt. Charles Broe, who heads the City of Newburgh police SWAT team. "It's a reassurance that, God forbid, something happens, we're not dragging one of our guys down the stairs and driving him to the hospital ourselves."

First, though, the guys with the guns need to get comfortable with the guys with the sutures.

"To be part of that group, particularly not being a police officer, is very tough to do," McKenzie said.

For instance, the first time McKenzie, 42, went with the City of Newburgh SWAT team on an operation, he was banned from the prebust briefing.

The snag to providing fast treatment is inherent in the secretiveness and surprise crucial to SWAT operations

"Nobody knows where they are and what they are doing," until the SWAT mission is done, said Richard Miller, director of field operations for Mobile Life.

Besides gaining the SWAT team's trust, the medics must train for the dicey situations they might encounter.

Kevin Delmonico, 28, started as a tactical medic in June after nine years as a paramedic. He took classes with names like Treatment Under Fire and Medicine Across the Barrier.

He also learned how SWAT teams operate in dangerous territory, "so you don't have somebody holding your hand," Delmonico said. "So they don't say, 'We got this medic with us and now we have to baby-sit him.'"

The service by Mobile Life costs the local departments nothing, other than taking the time to train with the medics.

"I know it sounds altruistic, but we have an obligation," Miller said. "To make sure people out on the front lines get the same benefits of a paramedic as the average citizen."

Planning and prevention are the fundamental — though less flashy — work of the tactical medic.

McKenzie lists off what they consider. (He never seems to run out of potential pitfalls.)

Before the operation begins, tactical medics contact hospitals to find out which trauma centers are open, which have equipment down; where the burn centers are; what the weather is like, in case they need a helicopter; how many children could be in the house; what chemicals might be in the house; what streets are closed in the area.

And then, like a football coach: Is everyone hydrated, well rested? If they've been outside a house for, say, 13 hours, are replacements coming in so they can rest?

In the meantime, in between the real thing, the SWAT team and the medics, barely distinguishable in their tactical gear, continue to train.

McKenzie and Delmonico squeezed into the SWAT team lined up outside. They went through the door, then up to the second floor, where a "bad guy" started squeezing off rounds before they reached the top of the stairs.

If this had been real, McKenzie and Delmonico would've stayed busy with the carnage.

And just before the paint bullets fly, at least once the thought shoots through McKenzie's head: Have these guys been drinking enough fluids?

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...9200345/-1/NEWS

[JM15 386]

why dont the SWAT teams just send some of their guys to Medic school, I think that it would make more sense than taking a civillian who is probabally unarmed into a situation like that.

[paratrooper75 41]

I was an Army Ranger and I am currently in Medic school. I'd have to say it would be easier to train a medic to act as a swat medic than get swat guys to train or want to train to be a medic. Our medics had to go through the normal army medic course and than the advanced Special Operations Medic course. They cross trained with the infantry guys and obviously all carried weopons. We did a lot of assaults on buildings similar to what swat guys do. The tactical part of the job was more or less left up to the infantry guys with the medic bringing up the rear. I'm not saying a medic might not get put right in the middle of a bad situation but usually they keep them back out of immediate danger. What good is a medic if he is injured or killed. And Im sure the swat medics have some sort of weopon whether its a side arm or a rifle.

[ny10570 745]

You want someone who is experianced and well practiced to be your medic. Not just a guy who took the classes a few months ago. Same would go for the guys on the entry team. You don't want a medic who went through a few training evolutions on point.

[Remember585 815]

I think this is a pretty cool thing. I think there may be something like this in a few communities around Westchester.....

My one and only question - does the insurance that the Medic's employer provides know about this and will they cover them if God forbid something happens? I'd hate to see a Medic helping a down Cop get hurt then find out insurance won't cover it because it was "beyond the scope of thier practice."

Anyone got pics of this stuff - I am interested in it.

[bartman884 0]

I think this is a pretty cool thing.  I think there may be something like this in a few communities around Westchester.....

My one and only question - does the insurance that the Medic's employer provides know about this and will they cover them if God forbid something happens?  I'd hate to see a Medic helping a down Cop get hurt then find out insurance won't cover it because it was "beyond the scope of thier practice."

Anyone got pics of this stuff - I am interested in it.

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Rockland Paramedic Services have been doing this for awhile for in Rockland that I am aware of.

[x635 4,066]

This is called "Tactical EMS". It's becoming a trend in SWAT/EMS agencies across the country.

I know agencies, such as Newark EMS, send EMT's/Paramedics out with the SWAT team on entries, raids, etc. They are the last in the line, and are there to quickly treat and extricate any officers that are injured. Usually, these paramedics have to go through a rigourous selection process, and very extensive training.

There's many training courses for paramedics called "Tactical Medic" training. I believe this orginated in Texas. There has been a JEMS article on this, as well as a TV documentary.

Every team operates differently, and if you google "Tactical Medic" you can find numerous different associations and teams to learn more about this new sub-specialty of paramedicine.

Also, I believe NYPD has officers trained as Paramedics that respond with SWAT teams for this purpose ( I remember an article about them getting an ALS license a few years back for this )

[Guest]

I have been trying to sell this for the last 5 to 7 yrs. The role of EMS is changing, I was Grunt Corpsman for the USMC (80-84) so tactical medicine is in my blood, To be effective you need a seasoned medic not someone who took the classes as overtime. It also takes some commitment, It is however hard to get some people to see the need and value of the TACTICAL MEDIC. We had a saying when I was in the First Marine Div. "WHERE MARINES AND ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD THERE YOU'LL FIND A CORPSMAN DEAD"

[helicopper 1,050]

why dont the SWAT teams just send some of their guys to Medic school, I think that it would make more sense than taking a civillian who is probabally unarmed into a situation like that.

←

"just send some of their guys to Medic school"? Look at the complexity and time commitment for medic school and for a SWAT trained police officer - each role is an enormous responsibility and to ask a person to train for both obligations is tough. (Not impossible, but he/she may as well say goodbye to their family for a while.)

Also, how will a cop keep his medic skills sharp without working in an EMS agency. If their agency is not an ALS provider and let's face it, there's only ONE in the region, they would then be obligated to work for an ALS provider.

All around the country there are civilian SWAT trained medical providers from EMT's right up through MD's. Seems to be working so far!

[IzzyEng4 427]

Go to this site.

http://swatmedic.org/

[20y2 43]

This is called "Tactical EMS". It's becoming a trend in SWAT/EMS agencies across the country.

I know agencies, such as Newark EMS, send EMT's/Paramedics out with the SWAT team on entries, raids, etc. They are the last in the line, and are there to quickly treat and extricate any officers that are injured. Usually, these paramedics have to go through a rigourous selection process, and very extensive training.

There's many training courses for paramedics called "Tactical Medic" training. I believe this orginated in Texas.  There has been a JEMS article on this, as well as a TV documentary.

Every team operates differently, and if you google "Tactical Medic" you can find numerous different associations and teams to learn more about this new sub-specialty of paramedicine.

Also, I believe NYPD has officers trained as Paramedics that respond with SWAT teams for this purpose ( I remember an article about them getting an ALS license a few years back for this )

←

Every NYPD ESU member is at least an EMT, while quite a few are paramedics, nurses, PAs and even doctors.

[WAS967 97]

I think EMS should be actively involved in any high risk operation where the potential for injury to either the SWAT team members, or even the perps, is high. I'm not a huge fan of the concept of medics tailing the team during the actual raid, but have them staged nearby (inside an RV or whatever) with an ambulance down the block, in case something does go wrong.

Arming the medics, especially when they are civilians, is quite controversial. I don't believe either the RPS or MLSS teams are armed during operations.

Edited September 23, 2006 by WAS967

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Staging is what we do now. I have no quarms about entering with a team doing a raid and being able to start treatment immediately. If you're down the street, you may be delayed further with the building/area not immediately contained or secured, at least with the team you can begin treating wounded in a safe area. I also believe in time you may see them armed, only in the event of self protection. $hit happens, peace officer status may be the answer. Insurance falls on the employer, if they make it part of your job then it is part of your duty and you are covered under disability.

"Where Marines and angels fear to tread?..." Wouldn't we have to tread first, get wounded so you could poke your head up to come up and assist us? lol. Lets not forget who is first to fight.

"If the Army and the Navy ever looked on heaven's scene they would find the streets are guarded by United States Marines."