Testimony
Police Trainer
Few things are as frustrating for a police officer or other first responders as the inability to provide aid and comfort to someone in need.
Long known to be the first on the scene, police are extremely limited by lack of training and equipment in their ability to treat life threatening illness or injuries. The most glaring example of this is in cardiac emergencies where historically officers have done CPR and little more. The national wave of Automated External Defibrillators and early defibrillation to combat the nation's number one killer, Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is providing increasing numbers of police officers with a definitive treatment for this presumed easily corrected electrical malfunction of the heart. The question that arises then is what if officers get there before the victim is unconscious, pulseless and not breathing, the criteria for using an AED.
What about when someone calls before the victim is face down in the carpet and they are merely suffering from Angina Pectoris (chest pain) or Myocardial Infarction, MI (actual heart muscle death), both of which are caused by lack of oxygen in the cardiac tissues due to compromised blood flow and are exacerbated by the pain, fear, and anxiety the victim is experiencing? Officers possess no easily-administered non-invasive therapy that will alleviate the symptoms or anxiety that the victim is feeling. People in crisis have heightened senses and can easily tell when an officer's reassuring words and appearance of confidence are betrayed by his eyes and constant calling on the radio to find out where the ambulance is. Unless you have seen the anger and disgust in the eyes of a victim's loved one, you cannot understand the emotional impact an officer's helplessness has on him or the department's standing within the community.
Upon arrival, the paramedics will administer oxygen, analgesics and other treatments that reduce both the physical and emotional symptoms the patient is displaying, if the MI has not deteriorated into Cardiac Arrest because of the lack of treatment by the officer.
This is one reason that I and several trainers are interested in trying to correct this problem through the integration of a new weapon into the officer's arsenal: The KI Method® has several techniques specifically designed to treat conditions in that gray zone of emergency care that police have historically been deficient in. The timeliness of this is most appropriate because as more police agencies deploy AEDs, they will begin responding to more cardiac and similar type calls that for years have not been dispatched to in many communities. As they begin responding to more of these calls, they will increasingly encounter victims who do not yet qualify for an AED (still alive) yet are possibly dying.
The benefits of TKM® are considerable as are the arguments for its use. It is easily learned, practiced and retained, keeping training costs down. Further, the techniques are non-invasive and require no equipment, this eliminates liability and ensures that an officer or other first responder can employ them immediately upon the determination of need.
One of the most common questions facing practitioners of alternative medicine is what if the technique or therapy does not work or is unsuccessful. For someone in crisis, perception is often the most important factor. If the officer or other first responder is confident of the benefits of the technique being applied and they are doing something that conveys this to the patient and reduces their fear and anxiety, then it has worked.
There has long been a move toward involving patients more directly in their own health care and that of their fellow human beings. Widespread CPR training, despite concerted effort, has done little to reduce SCA deaths in this country but has shown the ability of lay persons to learn and employ on demand simple psychomotor skills to save a life. The next logical step is to expand the capability of this army of first responders, empowering them to treat early and possibly avoid or forestall the need for such drastic treatment as CPR or early defibrillation.
Given the dismal success of CPR over the years, there is no logical reason for the medical community and the public as well to not embrace the techniques of The KI Method®. Consider that the national survival rate for out of hospital SCA is 5% and some researchers place CPR effectiveness statistics below this appalling number.
It is interesting that the leading cause of on-duty death for police and fire professionals is cardiac arrest, and that they would be just as likely to use TKM® techniques on a co-worker as on a member of the public.
Over the next few months, we will be working closely with Dr. Glenn King of the King Institute in training some first responders in specialized TKM® techniques for treating emergencies and demonstrating to the law enforcement, fire and related communities the efficacy of such knowledge and training, then expand it further for inclusion in all community-oriented programs.
It is just possible that universal acceptance and use of TKM® techniques may finally allow many to answer the question "Am I my brother's keeper?"
- Gregory L. Rookwood, former police officer and paramedic