Emergency First Aid in Hostile Environments

At InSight Crime's annual treat, we ramped up hostile environment and emergency first aid training for our 40-member staff, many of whom conduct on-the-ground investigations in dangerous corners of the region. The week-long training – taught by an expert in the field – toggled between the classroom and applied practice, as team members learned to stop catastrophic bleeding with tourniquets, handle blocked airways, and bandage breaks and other wounds. After being quizzed on a framework for prioritized trauma care, our team was tested in a casualty scenario that called for calm and measured treatment after a member was struck by a landmine. Field team leaders received further instruction in recognizing types and mechanisms of injury. All InSight Crime investigators must pass these tests to do field work.