I receive a ton of questions about how to convince administrators there is a need for staff to train for violence. Here is one I just received:
“Dt4ems I seek your guidance. I began working with a new company this month. This company provides EMS for some dangerous areas, and as typical police are on a as needed basis. Being former military I am always aware of my surroundings and cautious on how I do things. I cannot say the same for my fellow EMT’S they seem to have a more relax pose when in these situations. The other day we had a combatant drunk in which we had to call PD for assistance, we couldn’t leave the apartment as it was more dangerous to be in the open hallway with the occupants of the apartment building. I maintained proper control of the situation while my partner leaned against a wall and waited for PD. I no longer can stand by and let these EMTS believe they won’t be attacked. I try my best to teach and inform them but it only gets me so far. My job brushed off the idea of your style of training and I’m beginning to believe they honestly don’t care. This is the first and hopefully last time you’ll hear me say this but I am scared. I began to wear a vest to work, and I get my share of comments about it. I guess my question here would be what is the best approach to get EMTS with no background in dangerous situation or hostile environments to understand our safety and security is the most important thing. This isn’t iraq, I don’t have a squad to watch or protect me, and I want to insure I go home every night. If there is some way you can help it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading.”
First you have to build the need. You do so by education. Educating them that violence is rampant in emergency medicine. You can share our Assault on Staff Logs with them. Being aware yourself of current and past assaults will prove you have researched the subject. It is beneficial when you see the frequent types of attacks and the situations (calls) surrounding them. Then show how you or co-workers have faced similar situations.
Here we prove that if faced with a violent encounter, staff WILL RESPOND, how they respond will be based upon their training or lack of it. This is important because some administrators believe as long as they don’t formally address the issue they reduce liability. Actions like the ones in the videos you just watched in the hyperlink above prove the theory of ignorance is bliss won’t hold up.
Next you can show them what people say about our training by having them look at the Testimonials people have given. In the testimonials they can see people of all skill levels, varying positions from front line staff, administrators, educators, EMS associations and state level trainers all back our program and believe in our culture changing message.
Have them look at the About Us page. It will give them a brief overview of who we are and what our mission is.
Now comes the hard part… educating them that DT4EMS’ EVE is not about fighting, submitting or controlling a criminal attacker. Here are a couple of Chronicles of a Culture Changer posts where I address the difference:
* Take a Peek Inside DT4EMS’ EVE Classes
* How Martial Arts and Police Defensive Tactics have Corrupted..
* Comments from Seasoned Providers/Instructors
I decided to put a couple of clips here (below) that may help give you some tips when speaking to your administration about bringing DT4EMS’ EVE to your agency.
Feel free to share these with anyone you feel it may benefit. Social media helps a ton. When you share, then a friend shares our posts, each time a person sees “DT4EMS” or “EVE” show up in their news feed, they begin to research us a little more. Heck to make it easy, simply share this post as a whole.
Informational Promo
DT4EMS Informational Video from Kip Teitsort on Vimeo.
What is DT4EMS’ EVE?
What is DT4EMS EVE? from Kip Teitsort on Vimeo.
What happens if your use of force is captured on camera?
Using force in Medicine from Kip Teitsort on Vimeo.