Towns County paramedics complete tactical medical training

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Towns County EMS

HIAWASSEE, Ga. – Towns County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) paramedics, Ray Giles and Curtis Walls completed a three-day Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC) course, Feb. 26, in Gainesville, GA. The voluntary, hands-on training provided first responders with the necessary skills to medically treat casualties.

Ray Giles Curtis Walls

Towns County paramedic Ray Giles (left) with EMS Supervisor Curtis Walls.

“This course was conducted at Hall County Sheriff’s Department Training Center,” Instructor Aaron Jamison of Valkyries Austere Medical Solutions said. “A big thanks to our friends at the facility. Also, I want to recognize Matthew Crumpton from Region B Georgia Hospital Coalition who hosted this course. Matthew also provided an IFAK kit to each of our 22 students. It doesn’t get much better than 24 hours of some comprehensive and experience training.”

IFAKs are trauma kits containing essential life-saving materials, bleeding control, and major wound treatments, including tourniquets.

The TECC students represented EMS, fire and rescue, law enforcement, K-9, and the Georgia Department of Public Health. Developed by the National Association of Emergency Medical Technician’s Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) Committee, the TECC program is based on the guidelines from the Committee on Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (Co-TECC) and the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) program. TECC uses lessons learned from the military and applies them to the civilian world of tactical medicine.

Towns County EMS

Training included medical triage at the casualty collection point.

The 24-hour course covered areas designed to decrease preventable death in tactical situations.

Topics included:

  • MARCH-E assessment algorithm
  • Hemorrhage Control
  • Surgical Airway Control & Needle Decompression
  • Strategies for Treating Wounded Responders in Threatening Environments
  • Pediatric Patients
  • Techniques for Dragging/Carrying Victims

TECC focuses on phases of care and provides guidelines for managing trauma in the civilian tactical or hazardous environment. While TECC has a tactical slant, it takes an all-hazards approach to provide care outside the normal operating conditions of most EMS agencies, such as responding to a mass casualty or active shooter event.

“This allowed for us as a training team to integrate the all-hazards approach to managing ASHE events. It all provided for all our students to spend time together and learn about each other’s role in the public safety response in the Gainesville and Hall County area,” Jamison said.

Jamison’s career spans over 35 years, encompassing wilderness experience, military training, and pre-hospital medicine

The course was funded by the Georgia Department of Public Health.

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