Partnership with local law enforcement results in a life saved

Published Sept. 10, 2014
By Senior Airman Natasha Dowridge
920th Rescue Wing Public Affairs

PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- A single car-accident victim can require as much as 100 pints of blood. That's 10 times more than what the average adult has in his or her body.

That knowledge, coupled with emergency first-aid training from the Reserve pararescuemen of the 920th Rescue Wing, Patrick Air Force Base, allowed Agent Richard Clements to be in the right place at the right time with the right training -- and save a life.

In July, less than a week before the accident, Clements, a task force agent with the Brevard County Sheriff's Office, took two eight-hour military first-aid training classes with 920th pararescuemen.

The course, designed to immerse law enforcement agents in tactical combat casualty care, is part of an initiative led by Tech. Sgt. Dan Warren, 920th RQW pararescueman, as a means to build and strengthen bonds with the men and women of local law enforcement.

The natural relationship between pararescuemen and law enforcement became evident just last year when Warren and other 920th RQW reservists were called to Lake Jesup, approximately 70 miles northwest of Patrick, to assist Florida Fish and Wildlife in locating a body using sonar capability.

This particular effort proved that the pararescuemen had a lot to offer law enforcement for particular scenarios, including search-and-rescue tactics and combat-casualty care.

"The mission opened our eyes to see that we can work together with these like-minded entities operationally," said Warren.

Capitalizing on the opportunity, Warren and fellow pararescuemen constructed a capabilities brief and presented it to the Central Florida Anti-Terrorism Task Force, which is comprised of leadership in law enforcement across Central Florida.

The briefing was the start of a symbiotic relationship between the pararescuemen and local law enforcement organizations. In June 2013, Lake County SWAT teams ran the pararescuemen through two separate courses of close-quarter rescues for two weeks before they deployed to Africa.

"It saved us about $60,000, and we built a relationship with those guys," Warren said. The relationship was so valuable that the Lake County SWAT team has since been incorporated into the pararescuemen semiannual pararescue tactical medical refresher.

"They use it to indoctrinate their team medics," Warren said. "It's how we pay them back for the all the training they proved us." So when the Brevard County Sheriff's Office contacted the pararescuemen to provide some very specific medical training, it was a natural fit. Wing pararescuemen taught tactical combat casualty care to a group of 30 agents. The training emphasizes a systematic approach to medicine. It's designed to teach basic "self-aid buddy care" under stress and combat conditions. Just as important, it also taught the agents to compartmentalize treating a patient and when to return fire.

The course consisted of classroom time, hands-on training and running through scenarios based on local situations the agents had encountered in the past. While treating their victims, agents were required to periodically return fire as a means to build muscle memory and acclimate to stress. This systematic checklists and stressed-induced scenarios taught by the PJs proved to be critical when Clements arrived at the scene of a car accident and a badly wounded driver in need of immediate medical care. "Most of the time, we are the first ones to arrive on scene during a response," said Clements. "This training helps maintain life for the two or three minutes before fire medics arrive." Clements was on his way home when he came across the accident. He quickly assessed the victim's vital signs and treated a partially-severed arm by immediately packing and covering the wound with gauze.

Realizing the victim was losing a large amount of blood, Clements made the critical, life-saving decision to apply a tourniquet above the victim's elbow. A two-year GAMEOVER Task Force agent, Clements credits his decisiveness and medical proficiency on the combat casualty care training he received from the pararescuemen. "The training was outstanding and essential," Clements said. "It's been some of the best training I've received." The Brevard County Sheriff's Office was later told by the trauma physician who treated the victim that the application of the tourniquet saved the man's life and prevented him from bleeding to death. "We are very proud of Agent Clements and the work he's done," Warren said. "Any time we have any kind of impact on the local community, for me, that's very rewarding."

Partners in saving lives