SOARescue

"To Equip, Educate, Sustain and Support the Best Tactical Medical Professionals on the planet"

Medicine When Seconds Count You MORE prepared than ever.

02/05/2026

A STEMI (ST-elevation myocardial infarction) occurs when a coronary artery becomes acutely occluded, causing full-thickness myocardial ischemia. Electrically, injured heart cells can’t maintain normal membrane potentials, creating a current of injury that shifts the ST segment upward in the leads viewing that affected wall of the heart.

In simple terms: the heart muscle is starving for oxygen, its electrical behavior changes, and the EKG shows it. But not all ST elevation is a true STEMI.

Common STEMI mimics include early repolarization (commonly seen in athletic patients), pericarditis, left bundle branch block, ventricular aneurysm from an old MI, hyperkalemia, and left ventricular hypertrophy. These can produce ST changes without an acute coronary occlusion — and treating them as a STEMI can lead to unnecessary cath lab activation or missed alternative diagnoses.

This 35yo M patient presented to EMS with central, sub-sternal chest pain x 30 minutes while on scene at an outdoor law enforcement operation in January. He denied medical history, nausea, back pain, radiation of pain, but did have some mild associated shortness of breath.

02/03/2026

To kick off Heart Month: we're bringing it back to basics. What is an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG)?

An EKG is a real-time recording of the heart’s electrical activity. Every conducive heartbeat is triggered by electrical impulses moving through the atria, AV node, and ventricles, and the EKG translates that microscopic ion movement into a visible waveform we can interpret.

Clinically, the EKG allows providers to identify rhythm disturbances, conduction blocks, ischemia, infarction patterns, electrolyte abnormalities, and the effects of medications or hypoxia. It shows not only how fast the heart is beating, but how well the electrical system is functioning.

For prehospital and acute care providers, the EKG is one of the fastest tools for detecting life-threatening conditions such as STEMI, ventricular dysrhythmias, heart blocks, and cardiac instability — often before symptoms fully declare themselves. When you understand what it’s showing, you’re not just reading squiggles — you’re interpreting perfusion, conduction, and myocardial health in real time.

02/02/2026

Current open-enrollment course lineup for 2026. New courses may be scheduled for later in the year, but these will fill FAST.

Is getting your TP-C on your 2026 goal list? Register for your seat now before it's gone! More information is available on our site: https://www.soarescue.com/courses.

02/01/2026

February is American Heart Month — a time to highlight the importance of cardiovascular health and the role early recognition and intervention play in saving lives. Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, and for prehospital providers, we are often the first link in the chain of survival when cardiac emergencies strike.

American Heart Month is an opportunity to reinforce training, review protocols, and recommit to delivering evidence-based cardiac care on every call.

February is also a great time to call awareness to our own cardiovascular health. Long hours, cortisol dumps, inadequate nutrition, and lax cardio conditioning contribute to the physical deterioration prehospital providers attribute to their jobs over the years. An aspect of being a team medic is ensuring everyone on the team is mentally AND physically prepared to operate to the best of their ability.

Strong hearts save lives — and so do prepared providers.

01/30/2026

Junctional bleeding is one of the fastest ways trauma patients die — and one of the hardest to control in the field. Injuries at the groin, axilla, neck, and high proximal thigh occur where standard tourniquets can’t be effectively placed. These wounds often involve large vessels, deep tissue disruption, and rapid hemorrhage that overwhelms simple direct pressure.

For years, pre-hospital providers relied on aggressive wound packing and sustained pressure as the only realistic option. While still essential skills, they are physically demanding, difficult to maintain during movement or prolonged care and are not always enough in high-flow arterial bleeding.

Junctional tourniquets were developed to solve this gap. These devices apply targeted mechanical pressure over major vascular structures at the femoral or axillary region, allowing hemorrhage control where limb tourniquets fail. When properly placed, they can significantly reduce blood loss, free providers’ hands, and improve survivability during prolonged extrication or transport.

01/27/2026

When the weather turns your call list into “Frozen & Confused,” make sure your go-bag includes the gear that keeps your patient warmer than you wish your morning coffee was on shift.

The SOARescue Warming MedMag includes everything you need to package a patient and keep them toasty:

- Water-resistant APLS Blanket,
- Ready Heat panel wrap,
- Flat-packed medical tape,
- LCD thermometer to monitor body temperature in real-time,
- SMART Triage Tag
- Mini permanent marker

01/21/2026

Equip your kit for real bleeding control — slim, simple, and purpose-built.

The Bleeding MedMag is a compact bleeding control solution sized to fit common magazine pouches or be integrated into your personal kit without adding bulk. At about seven ounces, it includes core essentials for immediate hemorrhage management: trauma dressing, compressed gauze, tape, gloves, and a survival blanket — everything you need to address external bleeding quickly and efficiently without unnecessary extras.

For providers who want hemostatic capability built in, the Advanced Bleeding + Hemostatic MedMag adds a hemostatic dressing (Celox) to that same compact format.

Built for providers who prefer compact, purpose-specific tools that integrate cleanly into your existing gear, MedMag bleeding kits are worth considering.

01/16/2026

Hypocalcemia: the silent killer in the lethal trauma diamond. In multi-system trauma, calcium is often overlooked — but without it, the heart, vessels, and clotting cascade all fail.

What causes hypocalcemia in trauma? Citrate (preservative) in blood products binds ionized calcium during transfusion; a significant transfusion without calcium replacement would cause of state of relative hypocalcemia in the blood recipient. Use of fluids other than blood products containing red blood cells could result in hemodilution. Pre-existing conditions such renal failure, malnutrition, endocrine disease that affect the use and storage of electrolytes in the patient's body should change a provider's approach to assisting their patient back to homeostasis.

Why hypocalcemia is dangerous?
↓ Myocardial contractility → hypotension, shock
↓ Vascular tone → worsened vasoplegia
↓ Platelet function and clotting cascade activity → persistent bleeding
- Prolonged QT → dysrhythmias and cardiac arrest
- Reduced response to vasopressors and catecholamines

A trauma patient who isn’t responding to blood, pressure, or pressors may not be “under-resuscitated” — they may be calcium-depleted.

*Diamond mindset*
Hypocalcemia directly impacts coagulopathy, acidosis, and hypothermia (difficult to shiver when your muscles can't function correctly).

Bottom line: Calcium is not an optional physiologic consideration. In multi-system trauma and massive transfusion, anticipate hypocalcemia. Recognize it early, and treat it deliberately — before it becomes the hidden cause of collapse.

**Follow all local protocols when providing patient care. Discussions regarding adequate management of trauma patients are meant to encourage critical clinical thought, NOT to supersede standing orders.**

01/15/2026

Coagulopathy: when trauma turns bleeding into a physiology problem.

In multi-system trauma, coagulopathy often begins silently and worsens as patients progress through the stages of hemorrhagic shock, fueling the lethal trauma diamond.

Coagulopathy evolution with hemorrhagic shock:
*Class I–II shock (≤30% blood loss): Compensatory mechanisms mask early coagulopathy, but tissue injury and hypoperfusion have already begun altering clot formation.
*Class III shock (30–40% blood loss): Clear hypotension and tachycardia → trauma-induced coagulopathy emerges, worsened by crystalloid dilution and early hypothermia.
*Class IV shock (>40% blood loss): Severe acidosis, hypothermia, and hypocalcemia → failure of clot formation, uncontrolled hemorrhage, and rapid decompensation.

Coagulopathy drivers in trauma:
- Tissue injury + shock (endogenous coagulopathy)
- Hemodilution from crystalloids
- Hypothermia → platelet and enzyme dysfunction
- Acidosis → ineffective clotting cascade
- Hypocalcemia → impaired factor activation
- Unbalanced transfusion (RBCs without plasma/platelets)

Clinical signs of coagulopathy:
- Bleeding unresponsive to pressure or tourniquets
- Oozing from wounds, IV sites, or mucosa
- Shock out of proportion to visible hemorrhage
- Transient or absent response to fluids or blood

Prehospital providers can change patient outcomes directly and mitigate coagulopathy. Immediate hemorrhage control (tourniquets, hemostatic gauze, pelvic binders), limiting crystalloids to avoid dilution and altering the patient's pH levels, prioritizing the patient's access to blood and plasma when/where available, aggressively preventing hypothermia, and anticipating and treating hypocalcemia during transfusion.

*Diamond mindset*
As shock worsens, coagulopathy accelerates hypothermia, acidosis, and calcium depletion, creating a self-reinforcing collapse.

Hemorrhagic shock isn’t solely low fluid volume — it’s failing physiology.
Recognize injury, control the bleed early, and treat coagulopathy as a primary life threat, not a late finding.

**Follow all local protocols when providing patient care. Discussions regarding adequate management of trauma patients are meant to encourage critical clinical thought, NOT to supersede standing orders.**

01/14/2026

Acidosis kills trauma patients — and it starts in the field.

For prehospital providers, acidosis is a core driver of the lethal trauma diamond and a direct reflection of poor perfusion and ongoing shock. Cells that are not perfused release waste such as lactic acid and K+ into the extracellular space, decreasing a patient's pH level systemically.

Why acidosis matters:
-Depresses myocardial contractility
-Reduces catecholamine effectiveness
-Impairs clotting enzyme function → worsens coagulopathy
-Signals inadequate cellular respiration

What causes acidosis in the prehospital environment:
-Hemorrhagic shock → anaerobic metabolism → lactate production
-Prolonged hypotension or hypoxia
-Excessive crystalloid resuscitation (especially normal saline)

Field interventions that actually help:
- Control bleeding early (tourniquets, pressure, hemostatic gauze, pelvic binders - remember that splinting is not only for pain management, but it's bleeding control!)
- Prioritize oxygenation and ventilation — avoid hypoventilation and severe hyperventilation
- Practice permissive hypotension when appropriate
- Favor blood over crystalloids when available
- Limit normal saline; avoid chasing BP with fluids alone. Consider oxygen titration, patient positioning, etc.

A patient's acidotic state may predate the injury: Sepsis, prolonged downtime, renal failure, or toxicologic causes can drive severe metabolic acidosis. A profoundly acidotic patient with modest bleeding should trigger a broader differential.

*Diamond mindset*
Acidosis worsens hypothermia (homeostasis), accelerates coagulopathy. Large volumes of crystalloids administered to control blood pressure decreases pH due to the fluid's acidic nature.
You can’t buffer your way out — only restoring perfusion and oxygen delivery fixes it.

Bottom line: Acidosis isn’t a lab value — it’s a distress signal.
Control hemorrhage and choose resuscitation strategies that fix physiology and supports homeostasis, not just numbers.

**Follow all local protocols when providing patient care. Discussions regarding adequate management of trauma patients are meant to encourage critical clinical thought, NOT to supersede standing orders.**

01/13/2026

For prehospital providers, hypothermia is one corner of the lethal trauma diamond that you can directly influence in the field.

-Even mild hypothermia worsens coagulopathy and acidosis
-Clotting enzymes don’t work when patients are cold, potentially worsening hemorrhage
-Metabolic rate changes in patients with core body temperatures below normal, affecting their response to life-saving medications

*Prehospital actions that matter*
1. Strip wet clothing early, then cover immediately with dry blankets/towels/bunting foil
2. Insulate from the ground (blankets, pads, cot barriers)
3. Use active warming when available (forced-air, chemical heat packs to junctions to warm blood in more superficial vessels)
4. Warm IV fluids and blood when possible
5. Minimize scene and exposure time — do assessments with purpose

Special consideration: Hypothermia isn’t always environmental...
End-stage sepsis often presents hypothermic (hello geriatric patient with a UTI and AMS who fell), prolonged shock, intoxication, toxins, medications and/or long downtime can all drop core temp. A cold patient with minimal bleeding should expand your differential.

Hypothermia accelerates acidosis, and coagulopathy. Hypocalcemia - secondary to blood loss and administration of preserved blood products - impacts cardiac/skeletal/smooth muscle function, and the clotting cascade. Early warming + early hemorrhage control + early blood save lives before the ED ever sees the patient.

Bottom line: If your trauma patient is cold, you’re already behind.
Warm early. Treat hypothermia as a life threat, not a side finding.

**Follow all local protocols when providing patient care. Discussions regarding adequate management of trauma patients are meant to encourage critical clinical thought, NOT to supersede standing orders.**

01/12/2026

Most of us learned the Trauma Lethal Triad — but modern trauma care recognizes a more dangerous reality: hypocalcemia.

Lethal Triad (Traditional)
• Hypothermia – impairs platelet function & enzyme activity
• Acidosis – reduces cardiac output and clotting efficiency
• Coagulopathy – uncontrolled bleeding worsens both above

Each element feeds the others. Once established, mortality rises fast.
Lethal Diamond (Modern Concept)
Recognizes a 4th killer: hypocalcemia.
– ↓ myocardial contractility
– ↓ vascular tone
– ↓ clotting cascade effectiveness

Calcium is not an optional electrolyte — it’s required for cardiac function and coagulation.
Why this matters clinically:
• Large-volume crystalloids worsen acidosis, hypothermia, and dilution
• Unbalanced transfusion worsens coagulopathy
• Failure to replace calcium silently accelerates shock

Bottom line: Damage-control resuscitation isn’t just blood — it’s warmth, balanced products, early hemorrhage control, and electrolyte-awareness.

Support homeostasis. Treat the physiology, not just the numbers.

Address

640 Matthews-Mint Hill Road Ste B
Matthews, NC
28105

Telephone

+18554762737

Website

http://SOARescue.com/

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Our Story

Our mission is simple, we exist to make better providers. Providers are not confined to the walls of a hospital, they do not require and MD after thier name, the right tool isn’t always available. We took that concept and ran. SOARescue pairs subject matter experienced instructors with some our nation’s bravest and finest, to ultimately prevent life loss. While we focus on military and public safety clients, we have programs to meet any need. Whether you work in an office building or jump from planes we have a program to meet your need.

So, what are you preparing for? YOU. More Prepared than ever. -SOARescue