CLEVELAND -- The streets of this city are seldom crowded, which is why the expected explosion of conventioneers, protesters, and event groupies descending here in July for the Republican National Convention has many inside and outside of Cleveland worried.
But easing that worry will be a group whose time has definitely come: The Rust Belt Medics, a volunteer group that works with EMS teams.
The group -- some of whom are medical professionals and some who are not -- will be outside the Quicken Loans Arena waiting to tend to the sick and injured who have gathered to protest the convention, to watch the protesters, or to engage with the protesters. They are ready to provide basic first aid -- and to turf patients over to ambulance crews and hospital staff when necessary.
"In a high-intensity situation like a protest, EMS's [emergency medical service's] role is to take the person away ... Their role in any situation is to stabilize the patients, package them up, and transport them to the hospital," explained Charles Schiavone, a farmer, member of the medics' group, and a former EMS worker. "But a lot of times, people who are injured in a protest don't want to leave -- they need a person who can be with them, who can help them restore their own authority so they can continue to do what they came there to do. So that's our role."
In addition, Schiavone said, "Often the EMS is behind the police lines and far distant from where the protest is, so there is no immediate access at the front of the protest, and that's where people tend to congregate."
Training for Volunteers
The medics, who are funded mainly with donations, offer two different types of training for volunteers, depending on whether or not they are clinicians. Nonclinicians get 12 hours of instruction on how to hold direct pressure, how to recognize a life-threatening situation, what an asthma attack looks like, and other things that are useful for nonclinicians to learn. Then there is an additional 8 hours of training for all volunteers on dealing with chemical weapons injuries as well as injuries from less lethal police munitions, such as baton rounds, tear gas, and Tasers, Schiavone said.
The medics are taught to use a "reduced protocol" in the situations in which they're working. "We can't start IVs or push epidurals; we can do basically only those things that are covered under the Good Samaritan Act, so that's basic first aid," he said. The group does encourage people to get additional training certification, such as in emergency medical response, wilderness response, or first responder training, since "It can take a long time to get a person to definitive care when you're in the middle of a protest."
Training in Cleveland will be with an alliance of health justice advocates at Case Western Reserve University, Gloria Tavera, an MD/PhD student at Case and a co-coordinator of the training, said on a radio program about the medics hosted by WCPN in Cleveland. "I'm really there to provide first aid and help whoever I can."
Working with EMS
The Rust Belt Medics usually wear the group's patch -- a red star with a fist and an entwined snake -- to identify themselves as street medics. Recently the group has been very fortunate in its dealings with the medical establishment, according to Schiavone.
"In four out of five of the last big mass gatherings where we put medics in the field ... We have had open communication with the chief of EMS for events," he said. "We have given them a copy of our patch, which they showed to the people in [the ambulances], so when they saw the patch, they knew what to expect from us, a level of professionality. We got a lot of respect from them; our handoffs were very seamless."
As for the relationship with EMS at the upcoming Republican convention in July, "all I know at this point is that overtures have been extended," Schiavone said in an email. "We are waiting to see how it goes." Other medics are expected to work at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
A Long History
How long have street medics been serving at protests? "I'd be willing to bet people have always been doing this," he said, noting that the person who trained him -- known as Ron "Doc" Rosen -- marched with civil rights activists at Selma, Ala. in 1965. "He was also at Wounded Knee"and taught street medicine in Mexico as well, Schiavone added.
The medics are not there to take sides, he said. "We are half a step to the side of the protest organizations we support, because we're supporting any individual we come in contact with. It doesn't matter if they are in the neighborhood getting coffee or a counter-protester, we all bleed the same color."
"If there is a situation where crowd control weapons are used, they are both inaccurate and indiscriminate, and people there can be exposed to tear gas who never thought they would be, including older folks and kids," Anne Wise, MD, MPH, a family physician in Cleveland, pointed out on the radio program. "Street medics are there to help anybody who is in some kind of health trouble."
That said, "Klan rallies are particularly complicated for me," Schiavone added, noting that he has had people refuse to accept his help. "I'm a big, pink-skinned man with long hair and a beard; I scare [some] people. So I would find another group of medics and see if they'll ... render aid." The group also avoids breaking any laws, even small ones: "If I get tagged for jaywalking, I can't render care."
Schiavone said he has never had to defend himself physically at an event, "although I've made some rapid moves, to be sure."
And he has had interesting adventures. At one protest in Quebec City, a woman was in respiratory distress after being pepper-sprayed. "She didn't speak much English; she was scared and hurt, and reverted to [speaking] Quebeçoise. Fortunately my partner spoke it, got her calmed down, and we got her contacts out. She pointed us to her car that had chocolate chip artisan bread in it. We helped her and she helped us, and we wandered around eating chocolate chip artisan bread and smelling tear gas for the evening."
Relax Cleveland, Rust Belt Medics Are Coming to Town
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