Rescue Task Force Vests Provide Real Protection to EMS

The Community Emergency Corps (CEC) in Ballston Spa, NY, has deployed 16 Rescue Task Force Vests in its ambulances and EMS staff vehicles. Made by North American Rescue, these vests combine personal protective ballistic protection with essential wearable medical equipment, including a front-mounted NAR-4 medical supply chest pouch and additional CAT Tourniquets with holders mounted externally on the vest. The CEC is a mixed career employee/volunteer department equipped with three ambulances amd two staff vehicles.

The CEC has adopted these vests in response to increasingly violent incidents in some parts of its 70-square-mile jurisdiction. “EMS is a part of emergency services, and our people face the same risks as our police and fire, risks that are an inherent part of the job,” says CEC Assistant Chief Tim Thomas. “The days of a pair of slacks and a polo shirt serving as adequate EMS protective clothing are gone.”

The Rescue Task Force Vest (RTFV) provides its wearers with one of the largest NIJ 0101.06 Level IIIA front/back panel soft armor protection systems available, which is also available with side armor protection. The vest’s ballistic soft armor is comprised of multi-hit capable system of ballistic materials. Each panel can capture projectiles and disperse their energy over the panel’s entire surface, reducing the chances of injury.

Thomas says his department couldn’t afford to buy individual vests, which is why the RTFV’s ability to fit waistlines up to 60 inches was a real plus, especially because the vests are deployed such that each active EMS officer has access to them while on-duty. He says the RTFVs are lightweight to wear and come with adjustable MOLLE webbing that “allows the wearers to configure them however they want.”

Besides providing enhanced physical protection to CEC’s EMS staff, the RTFVs have boosted staff morale. “Now that we have this equipment, our staff feel that management truly cares about their safety, and have done something substantial to increase it,” says Thomas. “Wearing these vests have also made our EMS staff more aware of their own safety, and better-suited to handle the ongoing risks of the job.”

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