WASHINGTON CO. EMS PARTNERS WITH TEXAS A&M TO BETTER TREATMENT FOR INJURED K-9s
and Washington County EMS personnel practice
tactical casualty care techniques on a K-9 training
mannequin during a working dog emergency
response training session.
(photo courtesy Michael Kellett, Texas A&M
Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences)
Washington County EMS is partnering with Texas A&M University to improve treatment for working dogs.
EMS recently conducted an aircraft landing drill and K-9 casualty care training at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences’ Small Animal Teaching Hospital (SATH).
EMS Director Taylor Leonard said the training is part of a plan to quickly and efficiently treat working dogs if they are critically injured during an emergency response.
Per a Texas A&M news release, EMS Aviation Lieutenant Ricky Pena helped create the plan to transport working dogs with the department’s aircraft. The department began working last year with the Small Animal Teaching Hospital to conduct the transportation drill, practicing landing the aircraft in front of the hospital, offloading a simulated patient, meeting with hospital staff, and transporting the patient to the Intensive Care Unit.
EMS’ special operations division works with law enforcement, special weapons and tactics teams, swift water rescue, and Texas A&M Task Force 1, along with regional and state rescue teams during emergencies.
After the drill, EMS worked with Dr. Thomas Edwards, an associate professor in the SATH’s Critical Care Service, to conduct training on how to treat working dogs in the field. The training covered K-9 anatomy, bandaging and packaging wounds, hemorrhage control, toxicity, heat injuries, and placing IV catheters. It also went through how certain materials and medications that emergency medical technicians carry on their rigs can work for dogs.
Pena said in the release that EMS has always had protocols to treat K-9s, but the aircraft allows for procedures to rapidly transport the dogs if they are injured. He said the drill went very well and resulted in “great feedback”, adding that the department wants to keep growing its relationship with the university and the small animal hospital. He said, “We want to do the best we can to support the team.”