Posted: 8/30/2009 9:06:24 AM EDT
| I recently became certified as a Tactical Medic. I wanted to post something and find out if anyone in the area of CT has the certification and if they had a hard time getting onto a team. Its been over a year and I have been having trouble. I had a potential for 2 different police departments but they already had someone in the position. I dont know if CT is using their internal members or what. Down south this seems to be pretty popular, but not in CT. |
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To my knowledge, CT has no such certification. I was an EMT (EMT-D) back in the late 80s to about the mid 90's
CT's EMS certifications are: MRT (Medical Response Technician) 40 hrs. Required of all Police officers going through CT academies, but not necessarily required to be maintained unless the department has an EMS first or secondary responder role (examples include: Woodbridge, Orange and until very recently, Waterbury) Some large city fire departments require MRT as a hiring requirement (New Haven comes to mind) EMT Emergency Medical Technician (now called EMT-B for basic in CT) 120 hours includes the core National EMT curriculum for Basic Life Support (BLS) that began as an 86 hr course in 1966 after the Highway Safety Act was passed-creating on paper what we know today as the "EMS" system. EMT in CT was a 106 hr course in 1988 when I took it. EMT in CT now includes auto defibrillator and assistance in helping patients administer their own medications during emergencies. The only federally controlled drug an EMT administers is Oxygen. EMT is common and often required by many CT Fire Departments with a first responder EMS role. Examples include: most of the shoreline towns in greater New Haven to Fairfield. I had to go to an extra class in 1990 when we had "semi automatic defibrillators" (Laerdahl Heart Start 2000s) in East Haven, Branford, North Branford and Guilford. These were heavier, clunkier units than today's yellow pack automatic defibrillators that anyone can use. The unit I was certified on took a three day extra course on top of basic EMT, you were overseen by a medical doctor when taking the practical test and the written required a 95 to pass. We were then called "EMT-Ds" EMT-I (Intermediate) also called "IV Tech" is 60 to 80 hrs on top of basic EMT. EMT-Is can start IVs, are automatically certified on MAST (Military Antishock trousers and can do airway intubations. Some outlying areas run EMT-I units with an intercepting paramedic. EMT-Is cannot add drugs to IVs EMT-P Paramedic. 600 to 800 hrs beyond basic EMT and 1 yr as an EMT before being accepted into the course. Full Advanced Life Support (ALS) skills, drug therapy etc. Actual procedures done vary by local protocols from sponsor hospitals and can vary from region to region and state to state. |
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Quoted:
I recently became certified as a Tactical Medic. I wanted to post something and find out if anyone in the area of CT has the certification and if they had a hard time getting onto a team. Its been over a year and I have been having trouble. I had a potential for 2 different police departments but they already had someone in the position. I dont know if CT is using their internal members or what. Down south this seems to be pretty popular, but not in CT. Also, in CT I'm not aware of "Tactical Medics" within police departments. Unless something has changed in recent years. Most CT departments rely on the Fire Departments, commercial and/or volunteer ambulance services plus any regional paramedic intercepting services in the areas where they operate. I remember being an EMT for East Haven Volunteer FD (Company 4, Bradford Manor) and the police would call the FD all the time to assist them with medical response for issues they were working on like - an arrestee having a seizure or drug reaction, or being called to respond to the sally port at the PD station to do vital sign checks and assessments for prisoners in lock up who had medical issues or complaints. And if it was a dangerous call - like an assault in progress or a violent domestic - we'd have to wait for the PD to get there and settle the scene down and declare it safe for us to enter - and we often rolled nearby the scene minutes before the police showed up! I do recall seeing a State Police vehicle with some sort of medical response function about ten years ago (like a white Suburban) around the the Rte 8/ 25 connector in Trumbull that looked like they were providing medical aid to car accident victims before Ambulances and Fire Rescues arrived - but I haven't seen that around in a long, long, time. I think it was some pilot program they tested and stopped |