Israeli Mass Casualty - Terror Workshop: Training Conclusion
By Greg Friese, MS, NREMT-P, WEMT, Emergency Preparedness Systems, LLC
EMSResponder.com Contributor
Listen as Greg Friese reflects back on his experience attending MCI and terrorism response training in Israel.
Greg explains how his perceptions of the region from afar turned out to be very different from the reality he experienced there. Despite the ongoing attacks, he felt safe and secure as traveled, and he notes that the region is a vibrant place where people continue to shop and play and live.
He then shares some specific lessons he learned on planning, training, and response, as well as how to apply these principles and practices at home.
“There’s no better teacher than experience,” Greg says, “and for better or worse they’ve had many experiences.”
Listen to this final podcast to hear Greg’s lessons learned, and watch for his in-depth articles this year in EMS Magazine.
To learn more about the program Greg attended, visit the Institute for Terrorism Research and Response at http://www.terrorresponse.org. You can also visit Greg’s website at http://www.Eps411.com or email him at mailto:gfriese@eps411.com.
EMS Magazine Monthly Insider for February ‘07
Listen as new EMS Magazine author Dave Donohue introduces the first article of his ongoing series on hazmat issues for prehospital personnel.
Dave is a hazardous materials training specialist in Washington DC, and his debut article this month is “Hazmat Response: Hazardous-Materials Recognition.”
Dave begins by sharing some of the response issues unique to DC. Dave goes on to explain that EMS personnel – whether they realize it or not – are responding to hazmat incidents on a regular basis. He explains what responders need to be vigilant of, and how to know what to do.
In this podcast Dave provides an overview of his initial article, which focuses on transportation issues, and shares that his future articles will include terrorism and criminal hazmat issues, and will examine scenarios from various viewpoints.
Responders won’t want to miss this series, as Dave notes loopholes that responders need to know about hazardous materials labeling. “Non-flammable does not always mean non-flammable…non-toxic does not mean it’s not going to harm you,” he says, “and learning those kinds of things will allow you to take personal protective actions that are going to wind up saving your life.”
Israeli Mass Casualty - Terror Workshop: Training Day 6
By Greg Friese, MS, NREMT-P, WEMT, Emergency Preparedness Systems, LLC
EMSResponder.com Contributor
In his sixth podcast from Israel, Greg discusses his meeting with national EMS system manager and shares an overview of the system including dispatch regions, equipment, call volume, and the system’s utilization of employees and volunteers. Greg also explains their training process and some of the key differences between the Israeli and U.S. EMS systems.
An important difference Greg notes is that the Israeli system has no difficulty with recruitment, like the U.S. In addition, he explains that most EMS volunteers are youths, who then take additional training to become employed EMTs after turning 21. EMS responders must then spend three years as EMTs before they can train to become paramedics.
Greg also notes that Israeli EMTs can do some of what we consider advanced skills, and that all paramedics and EMTs must cross train as dispatchers. Paramedics also must train at the country’s medical simulation lab, (discussed in Greg’s previous podcast) and must ride ambulances staffed with physicians until they are approved.
Greg also touches on their use of armored ambulances, ambulance targeting issues, and MCI data.
The podcast ends with a rundown of Greg’s lessons learned about Israeli MCI response, which include:
- The first EMS responder on scene takes medical command; don’t wait for your boss
- Don’t waste time counting patients in the midst of chaos; report – single, multiple or a lot
- Accept that there will be chaos
- Divide the scene into sectors
- Don’t wait for bomb techs to clear the scene – it takes too long
- Never pick up patient backpacks, etc., in case they contain a secondary explosive device
- Always disrobe patients in case they are packing explosives
Listen to the podcast to hear more lessons and Greg’s full report.
Israeli Mass Casualty - Terror Workshop: Training Day 5
By Greg Friese, MS, NREMT-P, WEMT, Emergency Preparedness Systems, LLC
EMSResponder.com Contributor
In this fifth report from Israel, Greg Friese reflects on the group’s visits to three prominent medical centers.
Greg first discusses the largest hospital in Israel, with beds for more than two thousand patients and a state-of-the-art center for medical simulation. He describes the center’s manikins, control booths, one-way mirrors for student evaluation, and real human actors. He explains that all graduating medical students must practice there, and that all paramedics must go there for licensure testing. In addition, medical providers use it to practice for upcoming cases or to recreate rare cases. Greg will be writing more on this simulation center in an upcoming issue of EMS Magazine.
Greg also discusses a 500-bed hospital just north of the Gaza Strip which is within range of regular missile fire, and where the staff has had to learn preparedness through trial and error. Greg also shares their chilling experience with a burn patient who was successfully treated, and later caught on video in a suicide bombing attempt. Greg discusses the things the hospital has done to be more secure, and their permanent state of preparedness for mass casualty incidents.
Finally, Greg shares his experience at a 450-bed Level One trauma center in Jerusalem, where the group received a presentation on MCI events and research, and discussed how terror trauma is a unique type of trauma. Providers there handle six to seven such events per year. The group’s presenter there was Professor Shmuel C. Shapira M.D. M.P.H., who is Chairman and CEO of the International Center of Terror Medicine, at http://www.terrormedicine.org.