TACTICAL EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES TEAM          

TEMS MEDICS:

  • DAVID AXSOM
  • BRIAN MOLES
  • DERRICK OLZACK
  • ROBERT PARKER

Riggs provides medical support for the Merced Police Department and the Merced County Sheriff’s Department in the form of paramedics and necessary on-scene medical equipment.

Recognizing the dangerous conditions and the odds for injury during a tactical police deployment, Riggs provides certified tactical paramedics to the Merced Police Department and Merced County Sheriff's Special Weapons and Tac
tics (SWAT teams). The Riggs Special Operations SWAT Medics are a team of four paramedics, selected by the law enforcement agencies, to serve as paramedics that respond to situations with their SWAT teams. These paramedics train with the SWAT teams and therefore must meet all physical agility and marksmanship requirements. The departments provide tactical training and safety equipment to assigned paramedics such as ballistic vests and other necessary equipment.

The paramedics involved in the program are all full-time employees of Riggs that have been selected by MPD/MCSO officials. Participation in the program is voluntary and the paramedic remains an employee of Riggs.

MPD/MCSO selects and incorporates the paramedics as full team members, notifying the medics through Riggs dispatch of all SWAT call-outs.  MPD/MCSO requires that the paramedics continuously train with the teams and maintain active practice and training in the paramedic profession.

Goals of Tactical Medical Support Activity.

Implementation of an effective tactical medical support program is directed at achieving these important goals:

  • Provide medical support and care for S.W.A.T. team members, civilian victims, bystanders and perpetrators during active call-outs and training,
  • Provide a medical perspective and con siltation to commanders to increase effective decision making,
  • Obtain and document  and over see the health and well being of the tactical  team members during training and call-outs,
  • Provide patient advocacy for team members during swat related hospitalization and medical transports,
  • Act as a safety officer during call-outs and training,
  • Provide evaluation and proper documentation of all perpetrators and victims of swat call-out to insure access to timely medical evaluation and reduce liabilities.

    • TEMS TRAINING IN RENO

    The Riggs Ambulance Service Tactical EMS team (TEMS) trained the week of March 10th with the REMSA TEMS team in Reno. Classroom training included:

    • fundamentals of tactical medicine,
    • conducting the Medical Threat Assessment,
    • emergency K-9 medicine,
    • how to keep your swat operators in the fight (preventive medicine-how to tape/wrap injured  joints- eye and dental care),
    • officer rescue,
    • care under fire,
    • working in hazardous environments, 
    • ballistics, and
    • clinical forensics.
       

    Things really got fun for the team when they participated in various live scenario exercises including; officer rescue, low light physical assessment, working in gas environments and best of all they got to use automatic weapons!

    The week started with learning movements and building and open area searches with the Sparks Nevada SWAT team, then night operations both inside buildings and in a ditch (with 6 inches of water and 4 to 6 inches of mud under the water). Then donned gas masks and went into a smoke filled building to look for an injured victim and a bad guy (load music and strobe lights).  They ended with a real time, active shooter scenario in a large office building where we had to set an internal triage and treatment area until it was to extricate to victims from the building, also how to coordinate the needed resources between Law Enforcement and EMS.