Editorial re The Onion Field

[Guest guest]

The Onion Field should never have happened, but it did. The cop who gave up

his piece screwed up very badly, obviously. Maybe he would have lost his

partner anyway, but he could have taken the guy out. That guy couldn't have

shot both him and his partner. He should have had a head shot that would have

dropped the guy, but he chose to give up his weapon.

Much investigation was done into the mindset of that officer. What happened

came down to a flaw in the training process. They had never taught officers

to deal with a situation like that.

We are in danger of creating the same sort of situation in EMS because we

fail to train our folks to handle threatening situations other than to tell them

not to go there or to back out. I do not suggest that we try to teach

martial arts to our students; I do suggest that we give them opportunities,

through

scenario practice, to spot potentially volatile situations and form plans to

deal with them.

How many programs use scenario practice in this way? Few.

How many managers give in-house training along these lines? Few, probably

Let us know if you do or if you know any that do. Some EMS managers are so

scared of " the lawyers " that they let their employees become prey simply

because they're afraid an employee might hit somebody and cause a lawsuit.

I have never had to hit a patient, but my 7 cell Maglite probably kept me

from having to fight quite a few. I have been surrounded by restless citizens

who couldn't understand why I wasn't trying to revive their friend whose chest

contained a shotgun hole you could see the pavement through. It's then that

one appreciates having thought through the situation before.

I often decry the quality of people we get in our classes these days. They

can't read, can't write, can't spell, can't do arithmetic, and some of them

are just looking for a kewl way to make what they think is an exciting and easy

living. But most are sincere, and they can't help that our education system

" Leaves Every Child Behind. " When they are motivated, they perform. But

they need leadership, and that's what's lacking too often both in EMS education

and in EMS work.

One only has to look to our military to see that young people can do

magnificent things with great training and leadership. It should be no

different in

EMS.

Gene G.

[Guest guest]

" One only has to look to our military to see that young people can do

magnificent things with great training and leadership. It should be no

different in EMS. "

Amen to that!!!!

Bob

bob@...

www.hargis.info

_____

From: texasems-l [mailto:texasems-l ] On

Behalf Of wegandy1938@...

Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 7:39 PM

To: Krin135@...; texasems-l

Subject: Editorial re The Onion Field

The Onion Field should never have happened, but it did. The cop who gave up

his piece screwed up very badly, obviously. Maybe he would have lost his

partner anyway, but he could have taken the guy out. That guy couldn't have

shot both him and his partner. He should have had a head shot that would

have

dropped the guy, but he chose to give up his weapon.

Much investigation was done into the mindset of that officer. What happened

came down to a flaw in the training process. They had never taught officers

to deal with a situation like that.

We are in danger of creating the same sort of situation in EMS because we

fail to train our folks to handle threatening situations other than to tell

them

not to go there or to back out. I do not suggest that we try to teach

martial arts to our students; I do suggest that we give them opportunities,

through

scenario practice, to spot potentially volatile situations and form plans to

deal with them.

How many programs use scenario practice in this way? Few.

How many managers give in-house training along these lines? Few, probably

Let us know if you do or if you know any that do. Some EMS managers are so

scared of " the lawyers " that they let their employees become prey simply

because they're afraid an employee might hit somebody and cause a lawsuit.

I have never had to hit a patient, but my 7 cell Maglite probably kept me

from having to fight quite a few. I have been surrounded by restless

citizens

who couldn't understand why I wasn't trying to revive their friend whose

chest

contained a shotgun hole you could see the pavement through. It's then that

one appreciates having thought through the situation before.

I often decry the quality of people we get in our classes these days. They

can't read, can't write, can't spell, can't do arithmetic, and some of them

are just looking for a kewl way to make what they think is an exciting and

easy

living. But most are sincere, and they can't help that our education system

" Leaves Every Child Behind. " When they are motivated, they perform. But

they need leadership, and that's what's lacking too often both in EMS

education

and in EMS work.

One only has to look to our military to see that young people can do

magnificent things with great training and leadership. It should be no

different in

EMS.

Gene G.