Lethbridge Police and Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services are partnering up with seven advanced care paramedics set to embed with police services during high-risk calls.
Tactical Emergency Medical Support will travel with members of the Lethbridge Police Tactical Team to provide on-the-spot medical care in high-risk incidents to either civilians or officers.
“When the next critical incident comes in, we’ll be calling out our TEMS medics to join the tactical team,” notes Sgt. Denton Michelson, who oversees the LPS Critical Incident Unit.
“In Lethbridge, we’re lucky to have a lot of advanced life support paramedics. That makes the job slightly easier. The transition is moving them from an environment they’re used to, into a tactical environment, an environment EMS is usually kept out of,” says firefighter Peter Griffiths.
The TEMS concept originated with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department in 1971 and has since expanded to agencies throughout North America. Lethbridge joins several other police agencies in Alberta who have TEMS programs.
“It’s important to have the right people with the right training in the right places to save lives. As members of our tactical team, we have a very limited amount of medical training, so we just want the experts to be as close as possible to save lives,” adds Michelson.
