Courses

Rescue 1 is certified to instruct and deliver a range of courses designed to educate First Responders and give them the tools to prevent workplace related trauma and Post Traumatic Stress. Read below for a full description of each course. Contact us to learn more about how we can customize programming for your team or help you implement crisis intervention and peer counselling programs in your workplace. 

International Critical Incident Stress Foundation Courses
 

Click the links below for full course descriptions. 

Incident Command and Emergency Management Training

  • Incident Command System (ICS) 100, 200, 300

  • Emergency exercise design and delivery (tabletop and live action)

  • Unified Command at a Mass Casualty Incident

Rescue 1 Courses

Survival Skills for the First Responder

Survival Skills for the First Responder is a program designed to provide First Responders and their spouses with the tools and techniques the daily stresses of a First Responder Career. 

This program is designed for EMT’s, Paramedics, Police, Firefighters, and anyone else who encounters the trauma and stress of critical incidents in the line of duty on a regular basis. 

Today very little is being done to prepare FIrst Responders, their families and spouses for the psychological impacts of the job. Most programs designed to address Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other stress related to critical incidents are focused on after-care or care after the event has taken place. Our goal at Rescue 1 is to educate and prevent. The Survival Skills for First Responders program will give you the knowledge and tools you need to stay healthy, stay working and keep your family together.

Program Overview

This program is a 1 day interactive course for First Responders. It provides a safe and judgement-free space for participants to talk about the pressures and stresses of their career, and connect with others who have experienced similar challenges. You will gain practical tools and skills to suit your individual needs and build a peer network of support in your area. 

Participants will learn about:

  • The mental and emotional risks associated with a First Responder career.

  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and its signs and symptoms.

  • The Terrible Ten critical incidents that can put First Responders at risk.

  • 12 Survival Skills for preventing and managing PTSD.

  • How to support a spouse or partner who works as a First Responder or who has been diagnosed with PTSD.

  • Traumatic Stress Inventory Checklist and self assessment.

Survival Skills for the Emergency Dispatcher

Survival Skills for the Emergency Dispatcher is a new program developed by Rescue 1 to meet the unique needs of the Emergency Dispatcher. Emergency Dispatchers are often included in First Responder training as an afterthought and often times does not meet the specific needs of a dispatcher.

Statistically Emergency Dispatchers burn out or develop PTSD at a higher rate than police, firefighters and paramedics. Emergency Dispatchers are expected to be 100% accurate 100% of the time and there is no margin for error. Every key stroke a dispatcher makes on their computer and every word they say over the phone or the radio is recorded.

Today very little is being done to prepare Emergency Dispatchers, their families and spouses for the psychological impacts of the job. Most programs designed to address Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other stress related to critical incidents are focused on after-care or care after the event has taken place. Our goal at Rescue 1 is to educate and prevent. The Survival Skills for the Emergency Dispatcher program will give you the knowledge and tools you need to stay healthy, stay working and keep your family together.

Program Overview

This program is a 1 day interactive course for Emergency Dispatchers. It provides a safe and judgement-free space for participants to talk about the pressures and stresses of their career, and connect with others who have experienced similar challenges. You will gain practical tools and skills to suit your individual needs and build a peer network of support in your area. 

Participants will learn about:

  • What are the frustrations of being an Emergency Dispatcher?

  • The mental and emotional risks associated with an Emergency Dispatcher career.

  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and its signs and symptoms.

  • The Terrible Ten critical incidents that can put First Responders at risk.

  • 12 Survival Skills for preventing and managing PTSD

  • Traumatic Stress Inventory Checklist and self assessment.

ICS 100 Introduction to the Incident Command System ( 5 hours)

ICS 200 Basic Incident Command System ( Command an emergency scene 12 hours)

ICS 300 Intermediate Incident Command System (Command a complicated scene 20 hours)  

Brand new class: Unified Command at a Mass Casualty Incident (3 hours)

Unified Command

 at the

 Mass Casualty Incident

When Mass Casualty Incidents (MCI) occur, incident command becomes very important.  When multiple agencies from multiple jurisdictions respond to the same MCI is single agency command enough? Should all agencies go to a unified command?

Unified Command at the Mass Casualty Incident will give your First Responders the opportunity to dissect mass casualty transportation incidents in a tabletop format. From a bird’s eye view students will see for themselves the advantages of moving to a unified command at an MCI.

This three hour class will first look at the Coquihalla Highway bus crash of August 30/2014. This crash will be recreated on a tabletop map so that students can see for themselves what happened that day. What worked well and what didn’t work well.      

After reviewing the Coquihalla crash students will view a video on the Incident Command System (ICS). This video will explain the importance of the following ICS points:

  • The importance of establishing command early on in the incident

  • Management of the scene by developing a set of achievable objectives

  • Resource management in ICS

  • Transfer of command

  • Unified command

After viewing the ICS video students will move to the tabletop map to work out staged problems on the map using the principles of the Incident Command System. When police, fire and ambulance respond to an MCI does each of these agencies have similar responsibilities? Will each of these agencies come up with a similar set of operational objectives?  The answer to both of these questions is no. How then do these agencies work together to achieve the best outcome?

Is there a way for these agencies to work together under a common set of achievable objectives that will meet the needs of everyone involved? The answer is yes there is and it is called Unified Command