The Horse 911: What's Your Emergency? : emergency services, responders

Milton, Ga., Response Program is a Huge Success

REBECCA — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:17:00 GMT

In this blog, I am trying to focus attention on groups or teams of people who are taking the ideas of large animal and equine technical rescue and implementing it in their communities. Numerous groups across the country are providing equine emergency rescue or even ambulance services to horses and owners within their localities. This week we will take a look at the Milton Technical Large Animal Rescue Unit in Milton, Ga., which has outfitted its department with a cache of large animal equipment, responds to needs within its jurisdiction and region, and is performing training on an ongoing basis.

The Milton unit used a Becker sling to perform a textbook rescue on this mare, who was trapped in mud.

Background: In 2008, Milton, Ga., initiated training in large animal emergency rescue of several of their firefighters and began adding large animal rescue knowledge, equipment and training to the department’s cache and capabilities. Within a matter of weeks, team members were getting calls to assist with horses in mud, overturned or through the floor of trailers, and trapped in various entrapment scenarios.

Battalion Chief Bill Bourn says, “We have had a tremendous response to our TLAER program since its inception in August of 2008. The local equestrian organizations and boarding and training facilities have helped to spread the word about the services we offer.”

The team has responded to numerous incidents (more than 100) during the program's five years and is always happy to help both horses and their owners with a safe, efficient plan for rescue.

A recent example: A news story from the local NBC affiliate highlighted the teams efforts last summer.

Community involvement: Chief Bourn said, “We are frequently asked to bring our equipment trailer to their facilities or to community events to tell about our experiences and to demonstrate some of our rescue techniques. The community understands and accepts the fact that although this service is provided by the fire department and its personnel, the training and equipment used for TLAER incidents is funded solely by donations and that no taxpayer funds are used for this program.”

This donation stream has even allowed Milton to buy one of the Randy Rescue Horse Mannequins that it can utilize for professional training of their personnel, as well as a great prop for educational seminars.

Jurisdictions working together: Milton and its surrounding jurisdictions are working together on these types of incidents. Due to a very large equine population within their response area, and being within the piedmont and mountains of Georgia where there are numerous very active horse trail systems, the teams has many callouts to assist. Milton has mutual aid agreements with Cherokee County and Forsyth County Fire departments. These jurisdictions border the city of Milton and fall within the approved response areas for the team. The biggest obstacle they have faced is getting the public to utilize the 911 system when they need large animal rescue services (instead of calling Milton directly).

The plan currently requires the jurisdiction where the incident has occurred to dispatch one of their units first, then request through the dispatcher a mutual aid request for Milton's team to respond. The dispatcher then calls Milton to respond. This is a work in progress and it continues to get better as time goes on.

Chief Bourn notes, “We also have at least a half dozen large animal veterinarians who are familiar with our program and have agreed to respond (if available) when we request them.”

Ongoing training: The City of Milton Fire Department currently has 17 personnel trained to the operations level, and the entire department has been trained to Milton's "awareness" level, meaning that the personnel is trained to know what each piece of equipment is and what it is used for so they can be safe when working around TLAER incidents. All of our personnel participate to some extent, in TLAER training for the department, and they continue to send personnel each year to get the operations level training.

If you need more specific information about the Milton Technical Large Animal Rescue Unit and program or how you can get your fire department involved in similar efforts, please contact: Bill Bourn, Battalion Chief City of Milton Fire Department, B-Shift, bill.bourn@cityofmiltonga.us, 770-827-1049.

Those of you that have large animal or equine teams or ambulances in your area, please share that information with us on this post. We are always interested to see what is out there--around the country or around the world. Thank you!

Situational Awareness

REBECCA — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:53:00 GMT

Do you know what is going on around you most of the time? Are you aware of the smells, the sounds, and the sights around you at all times? Can you tell me what is the color of the car that is driving behind you (without looking in the mirror)? Or are you one of those people that tends to float down the street with your nose in your cell phone... trusting that others will step out of the way for you? When you ride your horse, are you blissfully unaware or are you paying attention to their footfalls, their rhythm, their ears turning, and their focus?

Situational awareness (SA) is originally a military term for a person's ability to perceive the dynamic elements around themselves and how your actions can change that, and being able to estimate how those factors and influences may transform with the changing of variables such as time, people, space, etc. In the emergency services, this is the gift of wisdom that comes with years of exposure to situations of many types, and the added complexities of human, politico-social, environmental, stress and leadership factors. Generally, SA is a highly-valued trait in leaders, managers, and decision makers--especially for people who work in jobs that have a lot of information flowing into the situation (disaster management and emergency scenes are a good example) or a high probability that something tragic will happen if you fail (nuclear power plants, pilot of an airplane, combat medic, etc.).

Interestingly, you have some level of SA, too--if you have ever driven a car, ridden a horse, or played an instrument with any level of skill. To perform any task, whether difficult or seemingly easy, requires SA of your vicinity, of the changing conditions around you, and of what can happen if you don't keep the car on the road, etc. Olympic-quality athletes and ace pilots have very highly developed skills of SA. Heck, even signing your name requires command of a multitude of tasks and intense concentration by your brain. Best of all, SA is a skill, implying that it is something that with practice you can IMPROVE!

Jockeys and eventing riders have to have excellent SA to prevent injuries in their riding pursuits... or is it luck?

For all of us it can be obscured at times and we "daydream"--how often have you jerked awake while driving and realized that you don't remember the last mile (or 50 miles) of roadway? That is a good demonstration of a loss of SA. In accidents and incidents that are commonly attributed to human error, many times the person's lack of SA is a contributing or defining factor to the tragedy that follows (and chemical involvement in the form of drugs, lack of sleep, or alcohol is a common depressor of SA).

Although it is unknown in this wreck who was at fault (subscription required to view article), it is probable that some combination of lack of SA by at least one of the drivers contributed to the incident.

Situational awareness is crucial to emergency responders, and one of the ways that you can assist on an emergency scene with your horse is by giving all the needed information about the incident to the dispatcher at 911 when you first make the call for assistance. You are the "eyes and ears" for the dispatcher. For example, telling her "there has been a trailer wreck on the road" is a lot different from "I'm southbound on I-85 at the 26 mile marker, and there is an overturned horse trailer with at least 6 horses in it. One is loose." The more details you can share, the better and more efficient will be their response.

The same idea works with your veterinarian. Telling him "one of my horses is sick" is very different than "my aged mare just came back from a trail ride this morning, she has a temperature of 102 deg F, minimal gut sounds, and she isn't interested in her food this evening." Details allow the responder of any type to better be prepared to deal with the incident when they arrive.

When you get involved in a team, SA becomes even harder to achieve because it requires intense good communication of the objectives and goals, or rules of engagement, along with each member of the team achieving their responsibilities and remaining within their role on the team. Furthermore, sorting through the "noise" of incoming information and filtering for that which is relevant, and that which must be shared, is a huge challenge to overcome and maintain safety. Whether the team is a sports team, a squad of Soldiers, or a fire truck responding to a barn fire, the challenges are inherently similar.

Measuring SA is very difficult to do in a quantitative or qualitative manner - but all of us know people personally that have these characteristics - many times they don't even seem to realize it. You instinctually have SA of those around you who have that "sixth sense" or ability to predict what is going to happen. Now, go practice to make it your own skill!

Top 3 Mistakes Veterinarians Make During Equine Emergencies

Michelle — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 16:18:00 GMT

In my two previous posts, I discussed common mistakes made by horse owners and rescue responders during a large-animal technical rescues. This week, we talk about the veterinarian’s role in these situations. The following are three missteps veterinarians should avoid during an equine emergency.

1. Assuming that they should take the role of incident commander
Regardless of the type of emergency or disaster, all individuals and organizations involved respond under a common protocol known as the Incident Command System (ICS), and National Incident Management System (NIMS), under the National Response Plan (NRP).
The basic principles of the ICS are fully applicable to large animal incidents and include the following:

Planning: An incident action plan must be developed for every incident (simple and verbal, or complicated and written) depending on the size and length of response.
Team approach: Every responder acts as part of a team and knows his or her job.
One Coordinator: The incident commander (IC) coordinates the incident response; he/she is the leader and shoulders responsibility for the entire scene. This is normally a fire fighter or police officer who has extensive training and certifications in this area. This is what they do every day.
Span of control: One person can only coordinate the activities of five to seven responders.
Safety: Safety is the primary reason for the team approach for the victim and the rescuers.
No freelancing: Individuals responding/acting on their own constitute a risk and a liability to others on the scene. The IC has the authority to forcibly remove them from the scene.

In today’s world the equine practitioner is an emergency responder. Therefore, it is imperative for the practitioner and staff to understand and communicate using the emergency response “language” of ICS. The best online training source for the ICS is the Emergency Management Institute, under FEMA. There are different levels of ICS training that give the equine practitioner (or horse owner or volunteers) the basic qualifications to help respond in a local or national emergency/disaster of any size.

IS-100 Introduction to the Incident Command System and IS-700 National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction, takes about four hours to complete online. In disaster situations, failure to possess this certification could result in dismissal from the response. In localized emergencies, it may result in failure to coordinate with the team. After taking a simple online test, anyone can receive a certificate of completion. (Other animal-related disaster content courses are available at through FEMA).

Emergency and disaster medicine are not the same thing and few veterinary schools have animal disaster response or technical emergency rescue and extrication as part of their curriculum. Happily, over the last 20 years several schools (Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, California, etc.) have made a move towards providing their students with courses such as “The Role of the Veterinarian in Incident Command” or “Disaster Preparedness” and several also offer courses and specialty TLAER or LAR, VERT, DART, or SAR team training to their students.

In this photo, the veterinarian (wearing blue) works as the animal handler. Correct positioning allows the veterinarian to evaluate medical status and advise on horse behavior, ensuring the rescuers are safe and the patient is monitored.

2. Assuming that they should participate in the operational portion of the extrication
The importance of safety should be emphasized at all times, even using long-handled tools to emplace appliances on animals that may otherwise kick, bite, or crush us. If possible, a professional animal handler such as the veterinarian, the veterinary technician, or someone with large animal handling expertise should take over the animal handling job when they arrive. They are in the perfect position to advise the operational personnel about the medical status and potential behavior or reactions of the animal, as well as approach techniques and body position.

The veterinarian or their technician should handle the animal, but in many cases should not work the ropes, put on a Swiftwater PFD, pull on an assist device, or get down and dirty in the mud for technical rescue/extrications.

As discussed in my last post, Top 4 Mistakes Responders Make During Equine Emergencies, many animal owners are far too emotional to handle the animal during an emergency. On the other hand, veterinarians have good training in remaining calm, making rational decisions, and handling the animal professionally (so they and others don’t get injured, and that the animal doesn’t get loose). Additionally, most police and fire officers don’t have any horse experience; large-animal handling skills for emergency situations are a specialty skill set. Many officers might not have had exposure or training and might underestimate the extreme weight, strength, and speed of a terrified, trapped, or injured horse.

Whether it is a single incident (e.g. a trailer overturn on the road) or a large-scale disaster (e.g. wildfire), the veterinary practitioner is one member of a group of emergency responders. In the case of a single, smaller incident, local responders will include fire fighters, law enforcement, and possibly animal control and paramedics. In the case of both small and large-scale events, it’s essential for the professional practitioner to know how to interact and work as part of the team with other emergency response individuals from county, state, federal, and private emergency-response organizations.

3. Failing to treat the horse for accidental hypothermia immediately after the rescue/extrication
Horses get trapped in the mud, fall through surface ice, or land in swimming pools. In the case of hypothermia, prioritization of the rescue effort sometimes has fatal consequences. The animal is a medical patient, too, and might need treatment during the rescue effort to offset the metabolic changes that occur.
For example, once the equine victim is removed from the hypothermia-causing environment, misunderstood efforts to restore body temperature can be counterproductive, resulting in a more severe hypothermic state. The fact that the horse will stand and eat some hay after the rescue can be interpreted as a sign that the horse is OK, but the horse may die a few hours later. Even when a team completes an efficient rescue and veterinarians do treat the animal immediately, the animal can still die.

Risk Factors attributed to the onset and severity of hypothermia*

The following are are common reasons horses suffer from hypothermia during and after a rescue:

Dehydration—Most horses suffering from acute hypothermia also suffer from dehydration.
Poor body condition—Horses in poor body condition are more susceptible to hypothermia due to a reduced layer of insulating subcutaneous fat.
Age—The ability to generate heat decreases with age in all mammals studied.
Body surface/volume (mass) ratio—The larger the body surface relative to body mass, the more core temperature will be lost across the body surface. This explains in part why donkeys and small horses (foals, ponies) are more susceptible to hypothermia than larger horses.
Drugs—General anesthetics (anesthetic-induced vasodilation) sedatives will aggravate hypothermia.
Rough handling—Rough handling of the profound hypothermic patient after the rescue can trigger ventricular fibrillation and cardiac arrest.

* From “Accidental Hypothermia in the Horse” by Tomas Gimenez, DMV, TLAER, Pendleton, S.C.

Have you been involved in one of these situations?

Please contribute your stories and reactions. How did you contribute to a good rescue of a horse? You can send photos to delphiacres@hotmail.com for later posting, and thank you for sharing.