TEMS Section Update from the Chair

It is an honor to serve as your section Chair. Since my involvement with ACEP, the Chair position has been held by a long line of stellar leaders; Gina Piazza (of High Threat Task Force fame), Rich Kamin (All around stud and great guy), Matt Sutter (The hardest working man in body armor), and Alejandro Baez (International Man of Mystery).  And, John Wipfler is the Chair Elect.  So, I may just be keeping the seat warm!

As this newsletter comes to print, the role of TEMS continues to evolve.  At the “tactical” level, we continue to support peace officers and special operations law enforcement teams.  We do high risk warrants, barricades, man hunts and prepare for large and small scale security events in our community. On a daily basis, we do team health, TECC/TCCC, and to various other degrees, Operational Medicine.   However, two evolving national security and public health threats have thrust our profession into positions of frontline strategic leadership: gun violence and the opioid crisis.  The TEMS Section, our section, boasts expertise rarely found in any single physician group.  We have sworn law enforcement officers, lawyers, un-armed volunteer physicians, public policy experts, military providers, and EMS directors.  We probably even have a toxicologist or two.  These two issues offer an opportunity for our emergency physicians, men and women who work in and with law enforcement, to help shape common sense, operationally sound policies that will affect millions of people.  I hope we can step up to this challenge.

Our vision for the next 1-2 years is to build out the section’s capacity to serve as an advisory body to ACEP and national leaders AND to strengthen the section’s technical capabilities to serve as a clearinghouse for best practices in Tactical Emergency Medical Support.  To this end, we are actively working on the following projects and hope for increased section engagement:

1. Development of online TEMS education and training resources under
2. Section validation and integration of TECC as described in the National TEMS Initiative and Council (NTIC) recommendations
3. Strengthening relationships with external stakeholders such as NAEMSP, NASEMSO, C-TECC, SOMA, NFPA and other groups in order to broaden section member opportunities
4. Development of Stop the Bleed and Be the Help Training options in coordination with ACEP Leadership
5. Strengthening the position of the Section within the College to serve as subject matter experts on law enforcement connected topics

This list is not all inclusive - or exclusive - by any means.  The section leadership is here to serve the members and to advocate for our interests.  We hope to see you at ACEP 2019.

David Callaway, MD, FACEP
Chief Operational and Disaster Medicine
Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC