Gear check with MCpl Vigneault
Video / January 30, 2025
Transcript
(MAV) My name is Master Corporal Marc-André Vigneault. I’m a flight medical technician here at 439 Combat Support Squadron.
I’m here now to show you the equipment we’d use on missions. We have our survival vest and our harness – that’s what keeps us alive, that’s what allows us to do hoisting.
On a hoist we can be lowered into places where ambulances can’t reach, or where the helicopter can’t land. We can descend on the hoist up to 200 feet in the air. Of course, we have our lifeline, which enables us to move around in the helicopter, to work on our patient inside it. And in extreme cases, on the harness we have our quick release that will detach us from our lifeline. And if ever, at that moment, our Plan A, or Plan B doesn’t work, we still have access to our knife, which we can use to cut our lifeline.
We have our admin pouch, which will be at chest level. We’ll carry our communications in this pouch. We’ll always have our survival kit with us. Our training gives us the tools to be able to survive for a few hours to a few days, alone in the woods. So, we always carry a personal first aid kit with us. We’ll also carry a food kit, plus spare clothing kits, all depending on what the weather is like. And of course we’ll have our flight helmet.
In our line of work, we’re often in environments that are going to be austere. We’ll be the only responder. We have to be prepared for almost anything. So, unlike a civilian paramedic, we’ll carry about thirty medications, which could range from antihistamines to narcotics. In our primary medical kit, we’ll have everything to do with the respiratory tract, everything for immobilization, vital signs, and all that. If we ever need more specialized equipment, that would be our secondary medical equipment kit. We’re talking oxygen, emergency delivery kit for pregnant women, kits for children or elderly people. The rescue basket, and on the other side you have the rescue stretcher.
Of course, we can’t show all the equipment we might use, because our field of expertise is very broad, but this gives you a very good idea of what we can use on missions.