Dangerous Precedent: Paramedics to no longer wait and stage during active-shooter

[Jmedic_]

To say that EMS need to stand by during some type of incident is absurd. Yes, if you do not have the training to make tactical decisions in a high stress situation, you need to stay in the ambulance. However, like anything else, training and exposure is what is needed. A medic on a swat/srt team, can only benefit said situation. If we can get people trained, then good things will come of it. The world is constantly adapting, as are threats, and the way situations need to be handled. We must adapt, and change, as the need arises, or better yet. Before the need arises. Why continue to stay behind the 8-ball all the time? Bottom line, it comes down to training. I challenge anyone to find an instance where a trained medic on a tactical team has been a detriment to the team, situation, outcome, patients, or anyone else around them. The military, and federal LE agencies have been using medics for sometime now. Time for state and local agencies to get on board and stop worrying about liability, bureaucracy, and all the other BS that comes with trying to get something useful done for once.

[Hmac]

To say that EMS need to stand by during some type of incident is absurd. Yes, if you do not have the training to make tactical decisions in a high stress situation, you need to stay in the ambulance. However, like anything else, training and exposure is what is needed. A medic on a swat/srt team, can only benefit said situation. If we can get people trained, then good things will come of it. The world is constantly adapting, as are threats, and the way situations need to be handled. We must adapt, and change, as the need arises, or better yet. Before the need arises. Why continue to stay behind the 8-ball all the time? Bottom line, it comes down to training. I challenge anyone to find an instance where a trained medic on a tactical team has been a detriment to the team, situation, outcome, patients, or anyone else around them. The military, and federal LE agencies have been using medics for sometime now. Time for state and local agencies to get on board and stop worrying about liability, bureaucracy, and all the other BS that comes with trying to get something useful done for once.

If the EMS personnel in question are street paramedics that aren't tactically trained and/or haven't worked with that particular Tactical Team then they absolutely need to stand by out on the edge of the operation and wait for the scene to be deemed safe by the SWAT personnel. Tactically trained paramedics that work and train with that particular SWAT team, however, are a distinct asset to the team. That's a concept that's more than two decades old.