FBI SWAT medics train at the College of Medicine

FBI agents train with Simulation Specialist Joel Hernandez (l) and Ruben Almaguer, FIU AVP for Disaster Management and Emergency Operations (r)

Twenty FBI agents descended on the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and surrounded what looked like a lifeless body on the fourth floor of the main building—not to worry, the “body” is really just a dummy. Actually, the preferred term is patient simulation mannequin.

The agents were taking part in an emergency medicine training exercise at the college’s Albert and Debbie Tano Simulation Center.

“We saw that FIU had the resources and the personnel and the expertise that we knew would benefit the team and just take the educational experience to a whole new level,” said Michael Biamonte, instructor and coordinator at the FBI School of Operational Medicine. “We look for these organizations that just have phenomenal resources and backing to be able to help us complete our mission the best we can.”

The agents’ faces can’t be shown because they often work undercover. They are also members of Special Weapons and Tactics Teams who are certified EMTs, which means they are called to respond to high-risk situations like active-shooters, fugitive pursuits, hostage rescues, airplane hijackings and terrorist attacks; and if anyone gets hurt, they are the first to offer medical help.

“If a situation would have it where, God forbid, we have an agent that gets shot or a civilian that gets shot at close proximity to the operation, we want to make sure that we have the best possible medical care right there on-scene to be able to take care of those wounded individuals and then transfer them off to a higher level of care with civilian fire department and EMS to get them to a trauma center,” Biamonte said.

The four-hour interactive training included practicing how to manage airways, decompress a collapsed lung, apply a tourniquet to a bleeding limb and pack wounds to stop severe bleeding. As nationally registered emergency medical technicians, the SWAT medics are required to attend these refresher trainings in order to renew their certification every two years.

“We are delighted not only to be able to partner and support our federal law enforcement community, but to provide them with this wonderful facility and training that could one day help them save lives,” said Dr. John A. Rock, HWCOM founding dean and FIU senior vice president for health affairs.

Maegan Azpiazu contributed to this story.