I don't believe it's foolish. I think it should be part of the basic training we get as EMS providers. I just don't agree with the way you're promoting it on here. It's kind of like how a lot of people criticize me for the way I say things even though they agree with the message behind it. "You could word that a little better"....
I may take you up on the offer but I don't think Daytona Beach will work unless my better half (KatGrl2003) OKs it.
Then I will be your student........... how better to approach it? I have tried every way with the exception of lying and claiming "How to fear no man on earth" or some kill a man in two moves approach.
We open our classes with the it may never happen approach.......but if we don't train people what is appropriate (reasonable) they respond like a caveman they end up unemployed and possibly prosecuted themselves (Medic in Denver sentenced to 12 years in prison last year).
See my mission is to prevent assaults......be it to a provider or the patient.
Now........... this is why I do what I do.......... ( and it has never been about the money )
If you ever wondered "Why" DT4EMS exists.......... well here is why.
For years I would work with EMS partners who knew was a martial artist and a police officer. I would be asked about techniques. They would ask "Hey, how would you get out of this hold or stop this type of attack. I would show them an escape technique or a skill to evade a specific attack.
Then after a while it dawned on me; I need to show more than just the technique, how to not be there in the first place. Hence the first DT4EMS class was formed. I really created it simply as a hobby.
My hobby became a passion one morning working on a rural ambulance.
It was a cool fall morning. The sun had not come up yet. My partner and I were dispatched to a report of a patient who had a “pacemaker malfunction”.
We arrived on scene, treated the patient and began our transport to a hospital that was about 40 miles away in Jefferson City. The patient was in her late 70’s and her daughter, who was in her 40’s, accompanied us (she rode in the front passenger seat).
En route, dispatch advised us of a “body in a ditch” and asked if we could check on it.
In a very rural setting, that type of request was not all that uncommon at the time. My patient was stable and I advised my partner he could stop and check on the “body” and relay the information back to dispatch.
I recall sitting on the bench seat and looking up and through the windshield as I felt the ambulance slow down. I could see a man wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans, prone on the grass near the road.
My partner made a U-turn and pulled onto what little shoulder there was. We were now facing south on the northbound shoulder. I began to apologize to my patient and her daughter for the delay and explained we would be moving again shortly.
Suddenly the back door of the ambulance opened. Immediately I could smell a strong odor of an intoxicating beverage fill the back of the ambulance. Rather than allowing the “subject” to get into the back of the ambulance. I told my partner to have the guy sit on the bumper and to “call him a ride”. I said it in a tone to signal my partner to call the police.
The back door shut and what seemed like only seconds passed when I heard the door chime. I then watched in disbelief as a black arm put the ambulance in drive. My partner was not African-American. As the ambulance began to pull forward, I lunged through the crawl space between the patient compartment and the cab of the ambulance.
I was in an outstretched position on my knees. I grabbed the gearshift with my right hand and shoved it into park. It made the most God-awful grinding noise.
Then the guy punched me in the left side of my face. I remember thinking “man….he hit like a girl”. Wanting to stop the threat…. while in a kneeling position I attempted to chop his neck with my hand. The strike proved worthless because I was kneeling and he was sitting up in a drivers’ seat. He simply raised his shoulder to block the blow. So……. I did the next best thing…… with his hand over the top of mine on the gearshift, me trying t keep it in park, him trying to pull it down as he floored the accelerator, I placed my left hand in his face. I began to yell at the daughter who was seated in the passenger seat to take the keys from the ignition.
It was obvious her fear had frozen her. She was praying out loud. Suddenly the passenger side door opened. It was my partner. I yelled to him to take the keys from the ignition. He started to climb over the daughter ….then went to the other side.
Once he opened the driver’s door, he turned off the ignition. I was still pushing the guys face as a distraction when I yelled to my partner “jerk this mother-f***er out-a here!”. My partner grabbed the guy by his feet and pulled. I watched as the guy bounced off the floor then off of the running board.
I went out the door after him. I remember being so angry. I was a full-time police officer working part time on the ambulance…… I never, ever wanted to injure anyone. But this guy……. Wow…… the feeling of anger was so much I stepped forward toward him and just before I did something stupid…… “Force Options/Continuum” went flashing through my head. I knew if I struck him…… I would be the aggressor.
When the officer arrived and took custody I told him the story. I later found out the guy was charged with DWI and simple assault. I was enraged because I could only imagine what would have happened if that would have occurred while I was in a PD uniform.
Not only would have officers and the courts treated him differently………but it would have made the national news. It was then I decided to take this “hobby” of DT4EMS and make it a passion.
it's all good my man. I am just truly passionate because it happens so frequently...but the powers that be don't give it the same merit.
