CERTIFICATIONS TO MITIGATE LIABILITY

 CERTIFICATIONS NOT ONLY HELP MITIGATE LIABILITY BUT ENSURE A BETTER TEAM:

  You now have a Medical Team Leader to coordinate your response from any situation from a child with a splinter or twisted ankle on the playground to worst case scenario of mulitple wounded congregation members scattered about the building. As the leader, what can resources that are relatively easily accessed can you leverage to ensure your team is trained and licensed if find yourself in the witness box answering for why the incident was handled in manner thats being questioned. I promise the more your prepared with documentation, certified volunteers, industry accepted equipment to handle the emergency the less stress and more likely your church will escape a financial judgement on your watch.

    Your easiest and best training to escape litigation is often leveraging Red Cross courses. I have noticed in many churches, especially medium to larger congregations can often find members that are certified Red Cross course instructors. While I believe in supporting any kind of disastor relief through a faith based emergency response team and not to support high salaries of Red Cross employees and pay for their expensive trips in which all they do is shake hands and broker deals where they get a cut from the contractors that will receive government money their emergency medical training is the standard which will non professional health providers will be held to in civil court. Every Security Team member should at minimum have a current Red Cross CPR certification. Many think having taken it in the past is good enough but the course changes often and if your team member has to give CPR a current certification can save the church potential litigation.

   While we advise Red Cross or equivalent CPR course as mandatory for all security team volunteers, paid security, greeters, ushers and paid staff along with childrens workers. Sunday School teachers being certified ensure have someone in every room ready to administer aid immediately if a cardiac emergency arises. The Red Cross CPR now assumes first responders to arrive relatively quickly and are no longer teaching breathing in the basic CPR course. In a situation with multiple victims or if it takes a while for first responders to arrive on site we recommend adding AED and Basic Life Support to CPR ertifications for all who are willing.

  Many municipalities now mandate public buildings have an automated external defibrillator (AED) just like other safety equipment such as fire extinguishers and first aid kits. We suggest all churches have an AED or multiple units based on size and as many people possible trained to use it/them. Many incidents we have knowledge of were settled out of court with gag orders on both parties so we can't always reference a public record court case. One church in our home state had a Thursday night committee meeting in which one of the volunteer security team members was opening the door for attendees but otherwise it was locked and a closed meeting. One of the men began feeling bad and left the room headed for restroom. He collapsed in the hall where he died of a heart attack because nobody at the meeting knew where the churches AED was located or certified to operate it. The base allegation in the original lawsuit before it was settled revolved around the idea that the volunteer security team member should have known where the AED was located and how to use it. Due to the machines cost and fear of it being stolen it was kept in a secure and locked location. Think about how accessible your basic life support tools are when needed.

 Living in the land of litigation is a primary concern to how your medical team is organized and run. If your church has an attorney who can help we suggest you consult them in forming and running your team based on your states laws. If your church has an active shooter event your trauma team working in most effective and legal manner will save lives while minimizing potential litigation. If asked, we will do our best to help. We will be adding/updating with more information on First Aid legal issues and certifications regularly. Below you will find links to pages covering other certifications and why we place significant importance on them for more than just an active shooter scenario.

MORE MEDICAL LIABILITY CONSIDERATIONS/CERTIFICATIONS

BACK TO MAIN FIRST AID PAGE

BACK TO MAIN CHURCH SECURITY TEAM PAGE

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