The challenges of providing care and even for the basic human needs of mentally ill and cognitively disabled people are nothing new. Nor are the many well-meaning attempts to address this difficult and multifaceted problem. Still, in the present age of staggering advances in technology, medicine, physics, and a renewed exploration of space, we are struggling for answers about how best to manage...

Contact professionals spend the vast majority of their time directly interacting with the general public or their organization’s customers or clients.

Everyday, hospital emergency departments (ED) receive patients and visitors experiencing extreme levels of emotional and/or physical trauma, whether it’s at a level one trauma center in Chicago or at a small critical access hospital (CAH) with less than 25 beds in the middle of America’s corn belt. 

In Healthcare the areas you work in are closed and confined spaces. Getting tripped, pushed, or tackled to the ground, or grabbed in the front or behind and pushed into furniture or equipment, or grabbed from any direction, thereby  limiting your ability to escape can end badly. 

When a life-threatening emergency arises, three professions must interact successfully to bring the situation to the best possible outcome. For example, a motor vehicle crash that has caused serious life-threatening injuries to one or more people will bring together law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services (EMS) at the scene and medical staff at the hospital.

When he was four years old, the Rodríguezes’ son Manny was diagnosed with autism.  Although that was difficult to hear, Mrs. Rodríguez felt relief when a diagnostician finally put a label on what appeared to be causing some Manny’s puzzling behaviors.  One of those behaviors was perseveration, something Manny’s therapist described as “insistence on sameness.”

When an attacker grabs you, it creates a situation that is dangerous on so many levels.  Grabs can quickly escalate to a fight, including the use of weapons.  Once grabbed, the victim is severely and instantly limited in their ability to escape or defend.  

All grabs are dangerous due to all the unknowns that may follow, meaning what might come next in the form of a follow-up attack. During any...

Problem:

People can deal with hunger for days and thirst for hours, but we can only manage being deprived of our next breath of air for a couple of minutes. That is why smothering sends a person so quickly into a blind panic, whenever they are forced to fight for their next precious breath of air. 

Unlike shooting from a distance or even stabbing during a sudden assault, smothering is a very...