We can learn from firefighters nationwide who are continually developing new and innovative ways of saving other firefighters and themselves in a variety of dynamic and dangerous environments. The fire service utilizes a Rapid InterventionTeam (RIT) concept when firefighters operate in an IDLH (Immediate Danger to Life and Health) environment. RIT is a preselected, highly trained element poised for immediate rescue with mission specific equipment and personnel. The sole purpose of the RIT is to rescue other firefighters when things go bad. RIT operations are outlined in the NFPA 1500 guidelines. Personnel recovery operations in the tactical and fire environments have much in common. Rescue operations in both environments are typically accomplished by small, high-speed elements consisting of limited manpower and equipment operating in low visibility environments that require personnel to maintain a low profile. Both are often further complicated by significant time constraints coupled with the issues of incompliant victims due to personal protective equipment. A new paradigm of unconventional rescue techniques is required to address a newer and increasingly hostile and lethal tactical environment. These techniques must address specific threat assessment, utilization of asymmetrical tactics, and utilization of unconventional medical philosophy. Unconventional warfare requires asymmetric rescue. This is accomplished through the implementation of innovative and revolutionary high threat immediate extraction tactics and techniques that will template a more rapid treatment of casualties. The applied science and study of extraction, focuses on empowering operators and medics to effectively perform immediate high threat extraction on injured team members and injured civilians. This facilitates early exposure to the tiered Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) guidelines. These guidelines implement treatment modalities addressing the three most preventable causes of death, and disability within the tactical operating environment. TCCC addresses casualty movement during the Care Under Fire (CUF) phase. It is imperative that we appreciate the importance of extraction in the continuum of care from the point of wounding. Consider casualty movement as a unique medical procedure under certain conditions. Our training must reflect the same emphasis on extraction as all other medical procedures in the tactical environment. All too often extraction must occur from the location where the victim was hit and went down, without the casualty's ability to assist the movement. This exponentially increases the risk to the rescuers now forced to operate in a zeroed in location. When examining the top three preventable causes of death in the tactical environment (extremity hemorrhage, tension pneumothorax, and airway), we note that all are time critical. For example, a casualty can potentially bleed out from a complete femoral artery and vein disruption in two to four minutes. The clock begins the countdown from the time that the injury happens, not the implementation of the rescue. The U.S. military has realized enormous success in preventing combat death during tactical operations throughout the Global War on Terror by adapting and applying the TCCC guidelines. How many more lives (casualty and rescuer) will be saved with the implementation of safer, more effective, and immediate extraction techniques? The latest evolution of North American Rescue is the VooDoo ® High Threat Extraction line. This targeted approach will increase success of personnel recovery and survivability in the operational arena facilitating the transition from Care Under Fire to Tactical Field Care. By utilizing a scientific approach, the Voodoo ® line focuses on empowering Operators and Medics to effectively perform immediate high threat extraction on injured team members. This capability in turn facilitates a more rapid intervention of tiered TCCC guidelines and treatment modalities that address the three most preventable causes of death associated with tactical operations. Since there is no "silver bullet? for extraction nor any one technique that successfully © 2008 North American Rescue, Inc. ? All rights reserved encompasses all rescue scenarios, it is imperative that the operator have multiple options at his/her disposal. Our VooDoo ® product line of extraction gear is expressly designed and constructed to meet the rigorous challenges and critical adaptabilities intrinsic to rescue in hostile conditions. Each item designed was built to allow the rescuer perform the following:
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Maintain engagement with threat
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Utilize improved body mechanics (maintain an anatomically correct posture) to rapidly extract larger weight
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Maintain natural postures and positions that preclude shifting of personal protective equipment (PPE) that either obviates that equipment or exposes additional unprotected body regions
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Decrease manpower needs in zeroed in location With the newly refined Tactics, Techniques and Procedures of extraction and the principles of TCCC, the VooDoo
®product line has the potential of increasing survivability in the tactical arena to both the victim and the rescuer.
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