Martyn
Forum Asst. Chief
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I find it interesting they are training cops as medical responders, rather than working with NHS to get "tube medics"
The idea is solid, though. Will be interesting to see results.
Every police officer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (sounds more fancy that way) is trained to the first responder level. Whether or not that actually helps in any meaningful way is debatable, but if you're in cardiac arrest in many of the suburbs with a POC ambulance, you're best bet of survival is the cops arriving fast (which they do) and getting that AED on you (which they carry).
There was a case in my hometown a couple years ago where the police used an AED and the woman wound up living. Or the police were involved in an AED revival in some way.
Hijacking my own thread, but:
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHEr4RIQS1w[/YOUTUBE]
Every police officer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (sounds more fancy that way) is trained to the first responder level.
This is incorrect.
Section 201. Members of police and fire departments, members of the state police participating in highway patrol, persons appointed permanent or temporary lifeguards by the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions, and members of emergency reserve units of a volunteer fire department or fire protection district shall be trained to administer first aid, including, but not limited to, cardiopulmonary resuscitation by July first, nineteen hundred and seventy-eight, including those appointed on or after January first, nineteen hundred and seventy-six and may be trained in automatic or semi-automatic cardiac defibrillation. The training shall meet the standards for first aid training prescribed by the department and shall not be less than the standards established by the Committee on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiac Care of the American Heart Association, and shall be satisfactorily completed by them as soon as practical, but in no event more than one year after the date of their employment. Satisfactory completion of a refresher course approved by the department in cardiopulmonary resuscitation each year and in other first aid every three years shall also be required. The training and equipment for automatic or semi-automatic cardiac defibrillation shall meet standards prescribed by the department.
The department shall coordinate the provision, by county, of training required by this section. Such training shall be provided at no cost to the trainee.
This section shall not apply to police officers, fire fighters and persons engaged in police and fire work whose duties are primarily clerical or administrative.
I may have misspoke, it appears the law only mandates CPR/AED and First Aid.
MGL Chapter 111, Section 201:
The last part makes it a little screwy I suppose as well. I've been told for years that First Responder was part of every police academy, I guess that's not always the case.
Most departments have a requirement to be CPR/AED certified and urge the officers to be first responders. My department requires CPR/AED but does not require First Responder. I am going to be offering the First Responder training in the next several months and hopefully more officers will take me up on it.
It certainly seems like it would be easier to just teach the MFR program and satisfy all requirements of the law at once. Personally I think that's about the perfect amount of training for those that are not expected to routinely function in medical emergencies but might still find themselves present and expected to act until EMS arrival.
In your area, teach them what needs to be done in that first 5 minutes, but also teach them to have a plan in case it takes longer for the ambulance to arrive. You don't want them to panic if the ambulance doesn't show up that quickly...I paid very close attention to the articles in May 2012 of JEMS. I'm going to see how I can offer both the MFR and also focus on the "First Five Minutes". We have no shortage of 911 response around here so law enforcement is usually on scene for only 5 minutes before an ambulance shows up.
About the video, who was the woman who came in around the 2:50 mark?
I find it interesting they are training cops as medical responders, rather than working with NHS to get "tube medics"
The idea is solid, though. Will be interesting to see results.
In your area, teach them what needs to be done in that first 5 minutes, but also teach them to have a plan in case it takes longer for the ambulance to arrive. You don't want them to panic if the ambulance doesn't show up that quickly...