How Does One Become A Street Medic?

 1. If you have not been to a protest involving an adversarial police force before, it is advisable that you do so before trying to act as a street medic. Participating in a protest will give you valuable experience in terms of predicting the actions of both protesters and police. It is always advised to have an action buddy when maintaining a medic role.

2. Once you feel ready to show up as a medic, it’s a good idea to get some training. Street medics vary widely in terms of skills and experience, ranging from basic first aid practitioners to military- or professionally-trained medics. Basic First Aid certification will give you most of the skills you will need to use as a street medic, however it is advised that one attends a Street Medic Training course, like this one.

3. Street medics often use an additional set of skills not taught in first aid courses, such as tear-gas decontamination and crowd assessment. Search social networking or activist sites in your area to see when street medic training sessions are being held, then do your best to attend. Bring food if you really want to make a good impression.

4. Assemble your gear, and keep it organized and ready to go. You don’t know when you’re going to hear about a protest action (especially with Occupy, which tends to have events spring up in moments), and the last thing you want is to have to scramble around looking for your first aid kit when you hear the police are launching gas at a march.

5. Do your research. As a medic it will be your job to keep an eye on the police, and being able to accurately determine the weaponry they’re carrying (and thereby the effects you should be prepared to treat) should be one of your most solid skills. This will involve looking at a lot of “less-lethal” manufacturing sites, as well as watching potentially troubling footage of protest injuries. We apologize in advance.

6. The best thing you can do is to get in touch with your local street medic group and ask them what it would take to join up. They will be able to give you a much deeper level of instruction than we will ever be able to accomplish through our website.

7. We welcome you to bookmark and share this page with your fellow comrades as a constant location of street medic resources. We invite you to contact us with any content corrections, revisions, or submissions. We strive to provide resources that are equitable to the standards and practices of street medicine today – but we are unable to guarantee the accuracy and legality or continuation of practices mentioned within each resource that we have available on this page, especially in regards to how street medicine in your specific location. Remember – first, do no harm.