The recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump resulted in chaos and tragedy, as shots rang out during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In the aftermath, President Trump and three individuals in the crowd were injured by gunfire, one of whom was killed. This incident underscores the urgent need for first responders to pre-plan and prepare for such situations.
Here are 5 key considerations to ensure readiness in the face of active violence scenarios.
1. Prepare for the worst
First, let’s talk about your role as a responder. The Secret Service often relies on first responders from the local area to augment their security plan. If your job is to provide coverage for a high-profile event, you should be thinking before you show up:
- What am I going to do in the event of an active violence situation?
- Do I have enough tourniquets?
- Do I have enough wound-packing material?
- Do I have enough chest seals?
- How will I move injured persons from the site to waiting ambulances?
2. Practice evacuating patients from the venue
In videos of the shooting, responders awkwardly attempted to move injured people from the grandstands after the assassination attempt – grabbing arms and legs, and carrying people in ways that were not efficient or conducive to patient safety.
Moving people is hard. Have a plan and practice the plan before the event.
3. Help who you can
These active shooter incidents are usually fast moving and very impactful. What we need to be concerned about, and prepare and equip ourselves for is basic trauma life-support. We’re talking about controlling bleeding from extremities, protecting airways, identifying injuries to the thorax to prevent airway/respiration compromise and moving people.
In this particular incident, there were only three people in the crowd who were injured by gunfire. Former Fire Chief Corey Comperatore was killed instantly, according to early reports.
Be prepared to bypass a fatality and move on to other injured people, maximizing your resources for the people that you can do the most good for. As tough as it is to do, if you have somebody with injuries that are incompatible with life, there’s nothing you’re going to be able to do for that person and the time you spend with them is time lost to help someone who could be saved. That is a mindset that has to be rehearsed, practiced and trained.
4. Consider your off-duty role
What if you’re attending a high-profile event off duty with your friends or family? Anytime you enter a large crowd, you should at least consider the fact that there could be an act of mass violence. With that in mind, you have to have a plan. What are you going to do to protect yourself, your family and those around you? Are you prepared to assist with first aid measures? Do you have a torniquet in your backpack?
As a first responder, even when you’re off duty, you have an ethical and moral responsibility to help, in my opinion. In a mass violence situation, people are going to look for someone to guide them. In these instances, you have to be the one who keeps your head in the game while everyone else is panicking, and guide them to safety.
5. Is your community ready to respond?
Another consideration: how have of you trained the members of your community? Do you hold Stop the Bleed classes? CPR classes? Someone with basic first aid and Stop the Bleed training is a force multiplier.
Our communities are always at risk of facing some type of mass casually incident, be it from weather, an act of violence or simple everyday accidents. Having a well-trained community provides a huge benefit and will increase the survivability of injuries from these types of incidents.
The rise in active violence in the United States is exponential and it’s not showing any signs of abating.
So, you have two choices: you can pre-plan and consider the what ifs, or you can leave it up to fate and hope that you come up with a right answer to keep yourself your family and those around you safe. After 38 years of emergency service, I know one thing for absolute certainty: Hope is not a plan.
