MCC Backgrounder – Emergency Medical Response Team

What is the Emergency Medical Response Team (EMRT)?

The Emergency Medical Response Team is comprised of RCMP Members with advanced, specialized medical training, in addition to pre-existing medical expertise.

The team’s primary mandate is to provide emergency medical aid and advance care to RCMP Members involved in critical incidents and in high-risk scenarios including the Emergency Response Team or Tactical Support Operations, providing advanced medical capabilities during a critical incident with a high risk of injuries or casualties.

Selection and Training:

The RCMP EMRT team is comprised of police officers with medical experience. EMRT applicants are required to undergo a series of gradually more specialized training programs in tactical and emergency medical response. This training focuses on methods to treat life-threatening injuries including gunshot or knife wounds, and the use of tourniquets and hemostatic dressings to stop a major hemorrhage, typically in a combat-like setting.

Completion enables EMRT Members to operate under a national medical control doctor’s license.

Purpose:

In most instances, EMRT are deployed with ERT or with other Special Tactical Operations or TAC troop Members. They always, at minimum, work in pairs. EMRT access “hot zones” which have been designated as being too high-risk for civilians, and coordinate communications with civilian Emergency Health Services and paramedics to make sure they’re aware of ongoing EMRT medical supports and can anticipate the necessary resources for an effective response when the zone clears.

While EMRTs purpose is primarily to support injured Members, they also provide care to civilians as required. This can occur during a high-risk emergency response event, as above, or in response to a another first-responder call, when ambulances or paramedics may be delayed.