EMS Self-Defense

[Don Gwinn]

Good one.

Not two weeks ago we responded with lights and sirens (called "signal one" here, I guess, but I don't use the 10-codes and radio jargon much) for a 911 call of "bleeding from the mouth." I actually thought to myself "This better not be some idiot's busted lip."

It wasn't.

The town's official sex offender had a bloody effing nose.

[corn_holio]

Oh yeah – Gotta love the 911 calls for a friggin bloody nose….

I’ve also had 911 calls for:

Itchy feet – truck driver at a truck stop had a rash (fungal infection) on his feet and the “itching was driving him crazy”.

Carrot broken off in the ass – supposedly “fell on it in the shower”.

I could go on – but I don’t want to totally jack the thread….

[newt3947]

I took the DT4EMS class several years ago. The class is designed to teach basic self defense skills that will help a person escape from an attack. They do not teach anyone how to fight, but they show you some tactics that will definitely make the attacker go, "what the..." The whole idea is to escape a violent attack, not subdue the attacker or kick their butt. Aside from all the skills, the class teaches recognition of potential bad scenes, documentation, and legal issues about being attacked and your response to the attacker. It's an excellent class for anyone who wants to learn some really good simple techniques on how to defend themselves, but doesn't want to learn a traditional maritial arts disicpline. The class was initially designed for EMS personnel, but has since evolved for fire, hospital, and a womens class.

[spook66]

Any of the medical people I have talked to have had issues with violent patients, whether due to their illnesses or drugs. So it seemed to me that any "self defense" would be to not get thrashed by a convulsing or flailing person. Anyone else messing with them would just be assault and should be countered with the Monkey Stomp technique, and then triage.