The trainings and courses linked here are a collection of helpful fundamental concepts for anyone wanting to be one our Medicaes, a Safety Medical volunteer that provides lifesaving trauma medical care!
Please watch the below linked videos and be familiar with the linked manual. Attend an in-person class to get familiar with the physical skills and practice with your equipment by signing up in our membership forms. We especially encourage anyone with prior medical or military experience to volunteer!
All Safety Medical volunteers must have current CPR training, as well as a First Aid training course from a reputable organization. We can assist you in obtaining these classes!
The NHCP provides online, free, First Aid & CPR as well as Basic Life Support training courses. They are not accredited by the American Heart Association (the primary ACLS credentialing organization), and we recommend taking an in-person First Aid and CPR for the Professional Rescuer course from organizations like the American Red Cross. But this online training is a good option if you need a refresher or some basic first aid knowledge.
All Safety Aid & Medical volunteers should also strive to complete an in-person Stop the Bleed course whenever feasible as well.
PLEASE NOTE: THE OPINIONS, STATEMENTS, AND ORGANIZATIONS LINKED HERE ARE NOT ALWAYS ENDORSED BY THE SOCIETY OR MEMBERS. THE TRAINING MATERIALS PROVIDED HERE ARE DUE TO THEIR EDUCATIONAL CONTENT ONLY.
The basics and history of what is called "street medicine" or sometimes "action medicine". It covers training on the general concepts of providing medical assistance to social actions. This is foundational training for anyone wanting to provide safety medical aid while at a large social action or civic engagement event.
Frontline Street Medic Noah Morris and UCSF Associate Professor of Medicine Rupa Marya provided this bridge training for medical professionals to be effective at responding to medical needs of people advocating for health and justice in the streets.
It covers street preparedness and situational awareness in order to be better prepared to serve your community. It includes the basics of tools and skills needed as well as review how to effectively respond to the most encountered clinical scenarios.
It's important for any Safety Medical aider to fully understand common crowd control agents and how they may affect patients as well as themselves. Here you can watch a full demonstration of how it works, how it neutralizes, and what to consider.
This training will teach the theory, skills, and practice of street medicine. Street Medicine is a discipline of medical care, social services, and health education to unsheltered homeless populations. This training covers the delivery of services, the role of street medicine in primary care, public health, and disaster response, and program administration and development.
In a heated, chaotic scene, sometimes we get engaged by angry bystanders or aggressive public safety personnel while rendering care. These basic concepts of keep calm and providing de-escalation training are fundamentally important to remember. We are there as a neutral party to render aid to any and all that need it, not to engage in escalations or aggressive behaviors! We may need to provide interventions if a situation is becoming aggressive and help steer to a more peaceful situation.
As part of our call to provide social care, we must fully understand what trauma-informed care is and how it impacts delivering medical care and safety interventions when dealing with people in crowded civic engagements or chaotic events. By incorporating some of these basic concepts, we can provide better social aid.
This is the handbook, created by Chicago Action Medical, is adopted by the Northern Aid Society as the primary handbook for our Medicaes! As Safety Medical volunteers, you should be familiar with the contents and brush up on the materials prior to every safety medical coverage event. It will be used during Medicae training courses. It covers most medical situations encountered during social and civic events, but is only basic medical information. In the below guidebook, more general community health concerns and aid are addressed. Together, these textbooks provide much of the need academic knowledge.
These advance chapters of the new 2024 Where There Is No Doctor necessarily contain elements from Hesperian materials, an organization devoted to reducing harm through community health and social care. The chapters contain materials from the textbooks Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook and A Community Guide to Environmental Health. It is centered on community or village healthcare when there are no health professionals, and is built to help empower people to take action for their health by increasing knowledge to gain greater control over their health and organize to eliminate the social causes of poor health.
Below are additional guides, resources, and articles that volunteers are strongly encouraged to review and explore. Seeking professional training, such as Wilderness First Responder or Emergency Medical Technician, can go a long ways as well!
Riot Medicine, the name not withstanding, is a full-length textbook that covers everything you need to become a street medic. The 486 pages include organizing, medicine, equipment, and tactics. It is written for those with no medical training and no experience at protests, but medical practitioners and seasoned protesters will still find it useful.
Other guides include a field guide, a basic aid card, and other helpful materials.
This article by the Melbourne Street Medic Collective provides a good collection of tips and techniques for providing medical care at social action and engagement events. Materials cover information about basic safety, situation management, organizational logistics and support.
The guide Streetwise & Steady: A Workbook for Action Peacekeepers or Event Marshals by Choose Democracy is a fantastic manual on safety techniques and strategies during mass civic engagement events. It covers the basics of crowd movement, de-escalation, and practical tools and principles for peacekeepers, rooted in the belief that nonviolent discipline is not just a tactic — it’s a strategy for resilience.
This article by Patrick Young provides a fantastic overview of the movement of street medicine and community medical aid in civic events. It covers concepts in mutual aid networks, the history, and thoughts around keeping the movements healthy and safe for the future.
Street Medicine, as the larger discipline of street medics, is the medical practice of providing medical care out on the streets and away from the confines of medical facilities and systems. This includes provide medical care to unhoused and at-risk populations.
SMI has become the global leader in developing the field and practice of Street Medicine and has helped cultivate or improve Street Medicine programs in over 140 cities in 27 countries across 6 continents. Their website includes guides, practice manuals, webinars and training sessions, and more.
This article by Atlanta Resistance Medics provides a basic overview of the general history of street medics, what they do, and where the movement came from. Understand the past social movements of providing care to civic engagement events can help provide a more thorough understanding of social movements needing medical safety.