Episode-906- Caleb Causey of Lone Star Medics
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A Recent Training Exercise at Lone Star Medics
Caleb Causey is the owner and Director of Training for Lone Star Medics. Caleb started his career riding out with Medstar ambulance services in Fort Worth Texas; as part of the Boy Scouts of America’s Explorer program at the age of 16. After high school he joined the U.S. Army as a Combat Medic.
Caleb has been deployed to various locations in the Balkans; where he has worked as a line medic with the 82nd Airborne and in the ER of the 212 MASH. He especially enjoyed his duty as an OPFOR Medic while stationed in Louisiana. After serving his country, Caleb joined the City of Benbrook’s Fire Department and served there as a volunteer Firefighter/EMT.
Over the next several years Caleb was involved with the department’s rescue dive team and worked as the Tactical Medic with local area SWAT team. Caleb also has worked with multiple Private Military/Security Companies as a Medic and as an Operator. Caleb completed Paramedic school in College Station, Texas. This is where he attained his American Heart Association’s BLS Instructor, Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support certifications, Heartsaver Instructor, and Emergency Medical Services Instructor for the state of Texas.
Caleb has proven to have a true passion for teaching medicine to people of all walks of life. Most of his classes are full of knowledge, experience, and laughter. He joins us today to discuss the role of tactical medical training for the preparedness lifestyle. After today you may see the phrase “tactical medical” in a new light as it doesn’t always involve bullets and an active shooter scenario. Anytime there is a lack of support, an element of danger (natural or man made) and an imminent need for treatment, we can find ourselves in a “tactical situation”, which of course means it can happen any given day of the week.
Additional Resources for Today’s Show
- Members Support Brigade
- TSP Copper
- Back Yard Food Production – (sponsor of the day)
- Fortress Defense Consultants – (sponsor of the day)
- Lone Star Medics
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.
Great show and thanks again for all you do. I know you can talk for days about that subject.
I did however want to remind everyone about the importance of anti-histamines and epi pens. An allergic reaction can happen at any time. Up to 72 hours after contact with an allergen and can be life threatening. I know because it happens to me and we still don’t know what causes it, I just start to swell up and nearly die without treatment. It is scary and comes on very fast, like a speeding bullet if you will.
Good hydration is also key to keeping healthy histamine levels.
Anyways thanks again Jack and next medical show could you cover this subject a little more in depth. If you did already what episode?
Many thanks to you for your service, and all you do Caleb.
Great show today.
I think too many preppers seem to get tunnel vision on “getting the guns and a truck load of bullets”, but tend to forget that bad guys shoot back.
And they neglect to ponder what happens when they are on the receiving end of a weapon.
Today was a good reminder for us to train and pursue the “tactical medical” side of things, as well as preparing for the every day mishaps.
I learned the first aid ‘basics’ in the Army, but I’ll admit I need a lot more education in this department myself. Thanks for the kick in the pants.
Three years ago, we almost lost our middle kiddo to dehydration. He started throwing up on a Sunday morning (after he’d slept all night without drinking anything, obviously), and because he couldn’t keep ANYTHING down, he had slurred speech, sunken eyes, and he couldn’t walk in less than 24hrs. His doc wanted to get him admitted to the hospital to get rehydrated, but our hospital wasn’t open yet (“Great Flood of 2008”), so we had to go to another city that was about 40 miles away. This kid was so sick by the time they were finally able to start rehydrating him that he slept through a HORRIBLE IV placement (where they’d tried 4 times before they got it because he was so dry.)
It took several hours of rehydration by IV before our little guy started to show a turn-around. He was barely 3 and had lost more than 10% of his body weight in a little more than a day.
Moral of the story — don’t play around with hydration. We have rehydration drinks as part of our preps, and what Jack said about the straws is spot on. To this day, our middle kiddo can go down hill really quickly, and he does much better if we’re giving him sips of something through a straw.
I also know that in extreme emergencies, folks can use rehydrating enemas, and while that might make some of you cringe, it can save a life. Just Google it if you’re curious.
Good show!
Oh, and I almost forgot. Water isn’t the only thing that’s important for rehydration. If you’re sweating or throwing up, you’re losing mineral salts. Those mineral salts are CRAZY important when it comes to regaining and maintaining adequate hydration. I agree that the sugar isn’t important, but the salts are, so you have a couple options.
1. Powerade Zero has the mineral salts and fluids without the sugar. Yeah, it’s far from ideal for those of us who can handle water with a pinch of sea salt, but I’d much rather see someone drinking Powerade Zero than nothing at all, and unfortunately, I’m married to someone who’d “just die” rather than drinking plain water. It sucks, but it’s true.
2. Another option, if you can’t handle the taste of plain water is lemon juice, sea salt, and a bit of stevia added to filtered water. There’s something about lemon that encourages my thirst, and I can get hydrated and maintain my hydration a lot better with this “weak lemonade”. For me (since I’m fine with the taste of plain water), I’ll maintain normal day-to-day hydration on plain water. If I’m doing something really strenuous though, especially because I’m obese and require a lot more water, I’ll use the water/lemon juice/sea salt/stevia combo.
It was discussed that once a person has a heat related illness, they will be more likely to affected and be hit harder later on. Is this just within a short period of time after the illness, or is it for the rest of their lives?
@Mike my understanding is it is permanent. Hence the big Hs on the helmets of the guys at airborne school. There was no question as to when it happened, just yes or no and on went the H. Felt sorry for the bee sting guys, LOL. You know the black hats came up with the need for BS vs B on their own.
I thought I had heard that somewhere previously, but can’t remember where or when. I’ll have to find some more info about that, unless Caleb or someone else can provide some.
@ Mike: Each time you have a heat or a cold related illnesses/injuries it weakens your bodies thermodynamic systems and makes you more susceptible to a repeat injury in the future. This compounds each time, and is pretty much for the rest of your life. I had many friends who were military divers and after being in cold water so much, and thus dealing with hypothermic type situations commonly, now anytime the temperature gets below 70 degrees they are getting cold — their body just can’t regulate appropriately anymore.
Another great interview and I really appreciate the insight that was shared by both of you.
I experienced a severe case of dehydration and heat exhaustion in 1997. It was so bad that my doctor considered hospitalizing me. I have had two episodes since and both episodes did not take near as long to set in. I do believe energy drinks contributed to my most recent episode and that was STUPID on my part.
I completely agree with Caleb about grab and drag. A lot of people don’t understand the concept and/or have knowledge on how to do so. I am one of the active shooter response instructors at my department and grab/drag is not the easiest concept for people to grasp but I feel that it is a must.
One option I teach people to use is throw rugs. Many businesses have small rugs in entry ways and other places that are rubber on the bottom side and fabric on the top side. Flip the rug so the fabric side is face down and roll a person onto the rubber part. Then they can be dragged away fairly easy.
I am so glad that you two discussed tactical medicine. More and more police agencies area training and equipping officers and it is saving lives. Many times police are on the scene of a crash or violent occurence long before fire/medical personnel are and, as stated by Caleb, they are staging away from the scene if it involves violene. Tactical medicine training and equipment is needed by all first responders.
The tactical medics assigned to SWAT teams are paying off as well. In fact, there were at least two tactical medics on-scene at Virginia Tech after the attack there and everyone who was still breathing when they were transported away from the scene lived.
I also second the previous request made by another commentor in regards to treating allergic responses. I am deathly allergic to bees and wonder about treatments should epipens not be available. Mine expire every year but I do keep Benadryl around in large amounts and it has helped me in the past.
Thanks again for another great show.
As a former military medic, civilian paramedic in both a busy urban and a very rural settings, and long time emergency medicine instructor, I listened to this podcast with with some initial skepticism. But in a very short period of time I became a big fan.
I loved Caleb’s answer about what gear to put in your first aid kit, when he responded, “We’re giving you the knowledge . . . here’s some tools in the toolbox that make that job easier . . . don’t rely too heavy on your equipment rely, rely on your smarts, on your common sense and on your training . . . If you don’t have one, let’s make an improvised one.”
Also his comment that tourniquets are not some mythically item of last resort. I believe, in a trauma situation with active bleeding, go to a tourniquet early and without hesitation; then apply a good pressure dressing (possibly with a hemostatic agent, but again don’t rely too heavily on them), at that point slowly release the tourniquet, leaving it in place, and see if the dressing holds and controls the bleeding.
Great interview. Great, easy to navigate, website. If I lived closer to TX I’d go talk to them about a job!
Jmtc, Caleb did a great job on “the soapbox” about dehydration but imo should have gotten on it a little sooner in regards to “scene safety”.
SS is so important because “Dead rescuers DON’T save lives”. All our instincts say “Go help!” but stop & think a few seconds about “Why is that patient in trouble in the first place?” Sometimes the best (& only) thing you can do is activate emergency response. They have the training AND the equipment to keep from adding to the body count. Help your fellow man whenever possible but don’t become in need of it yourself. Thanks Caleb for all you and LSM do to educate & inform.
I have a question, and not sure if it is off course, but I need to know, for survival purposes, what can people do that are on life-saving meds, such as during a catastrophe situtaion? Are there anything in place for people who has to have meds, that they haven’t found yet, that mother nature provides, to be able to not be a burden, and can also survive? Due to damaging auto-immune disoders, with no known cause, and no known natural cures, some of us out here are fearing the worst, in the occurence of a bad situation. Just wondering if you might have some advice.
Regarding that story about the patient death during the snowstorm, during the Chicago blizzard of 1979 one of the firefighters at the suburban department I was employed by brought his snowmobile in to work, where it was hooked up to a sled and used to access locations the rigs couldn’t get to. It worked pretty good from what I was told, so much so it was something the chiefs/shift commanders kept in mind whenever big snowstorms were in the forecast. Something to keep in mind next winter?