JONATHAN WILLIS’ RWT (Real World Trauma) kit on the left…THE WILDERNESS (which was my previous pocket carry kit configuration, which has been relatively constant for the past decade or so)

This has been a weird time for those of us in the medical training community. The training community as a whole is in a down turn currently, but the medical training community has had some real challenges lately. Everyone KNOWS that they need medical training, but the desire to actually GET it, is somewhere off the actual, “TO DO,” list. The assassination of Charlie Kirk posed a number of questions to those of us who work in the field about, “WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?” And, “HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR THAT?” There isn’t a simple answer however I can say that Charlie’s security team did everything right…unfortunately, when you have a gunshot wound victim who has been shot with a long gun, the BEST thing you can do for them is get them to a surgeon as quickly as possible. No amount of hemostatic gauze, direct pressure, or limb tourniquet application is going to slow the catastrophic blood loss that a long gun GSW (gunshot wound) victim is going to experience. They need emergency medicine and surgery just as quickly as you can.

Pistol wounds? Pistol wounds are another thing entirely.

You’ve probably heard people like Tom Givens say, “Pistols are pop guns. They are relatively low power.” And my colleague and fellow Hospital Dentist (look it up…there are literally dozens of us) Dr. Gary Roberts AKA DocGKR says, “Pistol rounds punch holes. Larger caliber pistol bullets punch larger holes.” The relatively low velocity projectiles that are(under 2200 feet per second) launched from pistols exercise the elastic nature of human tissue which means that the bullet simply cuts a hole, and there is no large scale, fluid upset and tissue damage seen like there is in rifle wounds. Even, “powerful,” pistol rounds with large amounts of kinetic energy behind them, simply create a pressure wave through the elastic tissue that causes it to stretch momentarily, then snap back to its near original shape, save for a tunnel (or hole, as DocGKR says) where the pistol bullet passed through. Even with well designed hollow points, the wounds from pistol bullets can be largely underwhelming.

So what can we carry on our person, daily, to help treat victims of penetrating trauma? Most people immediately think of a tourniquet, and while they’re great, they only work on the extremities…the arms and the legs. People have a torso, a pelvis, a head and in most people, the torso and the pelvis are the biggest anatomical areas of the body. And in some folks, especially here in America, the torso and the pelvis can be absolutely voluminous. If they experience a gunshot wound or other penetrating trauma to those largest areas, a tourniquet, while it does look cool in your instagram photos or worn proudly on your training rig, does NOTHING to help you, help them. However, possessing the right equipment to cover or plug holes in the thorax is important. And my friend Jonathan Willis has come up with a solid and budget friendly system that allows someone to accomplish this in the smallest space possible, whilst still being effective.

THE NEED

I have had the unique experience of having TWO people, on separate occasions, wander into my dental practice seeking medical attention. One had been shot in the face (read about that here) and the other had been shot in the subclavicular (upper chest), bicep and inguinal canal (space between the groin and the upper thigh). The first one was relatively stable, and while the wound was disfiguring, he wasn’t in acute distress. The other patient wasn’t as lucky, as he was suffering from arterial bleeding in the arm, diminished breath sounds from the chest wall injury (most likely he had air and/or blood trapped inside his chest…displacing his lung and hindering its function) and he had some bleeding from his groin injury, although it was not arterial in nature that I could determine. I used a version of the above pictured kit, along with a pair of SOF-T wide tourniquets to treat that man until the police and fire department arrived. I’ve used similar interventions in my years of hospital, reserve law enforcement, and pre-hospital care during my years of service as a fireman and EMT. Of all of those injuries I have treated, you can do a lot with direct pressure and wound packing! But to do either of those interventions, you need to have something to apply direct pressure with (other than your hands) and also something you can pack into the wound(s). Jonathan’s RWT kit accomplishes this with a relatively small and highly portable kit. I’m solidly in, “Dad,” dress mode, which means I can get away with wearing cargo pants or shorts, and this kit fits in either with great ease. It will ALSO fit into the back pocket of blue jeans.

These are the contents of the kit. I’m not going to go through each component and explain to you how they work…that is what training is for! Me explaining each and you getting training on them are two different things. Those that have had training will already understand and those that haven’t had training won’t generally get it without explanation and hands-on, supervised training to ingrain those skills.

THE NEED FOR MEDICAL TRAINING

I taught one of the first, “Civilian Accessible,” medical classes called, “IMMEDIATE ACTION MEDICAL,” back in 2007 for Tactical Response, when the only widely available medical training for civilians was CPR, Red Cross Basic First Aid, or MAYBE EMT/Rescue Squad training, but you had to be a volunteer or professional first responder to get that. I actually trained at Tactical Response with Dr. Spencer Guinn, an orthopedic surgeon who started the STOP THE BLEED curriculum and organization, nationally. The need was there for civilian trauma treatment training. James Yeager requested for me to create curriculum that was vocationally generic, that would work for anyone, from cops to kindergarten teachers, and for people ranging from teenagers to the elderly. The course needed to teach the student how to treat catastrophic blood loss, airway obstruction, and penetrating chest trauma that can lead to a tension pneumothorax. I did as he requested, and over the past twenty years and around 200 classes that I have taught for both Tactical Response and under the CIVILIAN DEFENDER brand, I have heard of about fifty different instances where my instruction helped someone save a life. Those stories make me happy…I am trying to leave this world better than I found it. Now, like many of you, my most precious commodity is my time, and I simply don’t have the time with my busy practice/on-call schedule nor the desire to convince people that they need medical training. They have to come to that realization on their own, and people like Jonathan have FAR MORE patience than I do to convince people that medical training is more crucial than them taking yet ANOTHER carbine course. Carbine courses are fun, I get it, and medical courses (while I try and make them fun) are information heavy. Do you know what isn’t fun? Watching your family or friends die in front of you because they needed bleeding stopped, choke to death on a pork chop, or have a heart attack at the Christmas party! I have seen all of these things happen in my EMS, Fire, LEO, and Hospital Dentist careers, over the past three decades. It is always tragic…you wouldn’t wait for the police to come and solve your existential crisis when someone is trying to kill you with an axe, would you? So why wait for the government to come and save your from a medical emergency? Start the process early! I have used my medical skills literally THOUSANDS of times…as John Farnam is fond of saying, “When it’s least expected, you’re elected.” I seem to get elected several times a year! Sometimes several times a month!

TRAINWITHWILLIS.COM is where you can find Jonathan’s schedule, and his products. Jonathan also stocks flat packed tourniquets, which make carrying them actually on your person, easier.

Branded med supplies WITH his url! GENIUS! Why didn’t I think of that??? This is how the RWT kit comes packaged, along with the flat pack tourniquets. I’m sure it goes without saying at this point, but I purchased these with my own money because I believe in Jonathan’s vision and his implementation is fantastic. Buy with great confidence and get training! If you have training, get more! I have to keep my skills in emergency medical treatment fresh, annually. You should too! It makes you a better asset to humanity, your family, your community and your country.

Check out trainwithwillis.com and see what Jonathan can offer you in terms of training and gear. Tell him that Dr. House sent you!