The above headline appeared in the October 13, 2017 edition of the NY Post, less than two weeks after the horrific shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas. The NY Post article can be accessed here. Both incidents have something in common: the central role that improvisation played in responding to the emergencies.

Put succinctly:

“To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well.”
— Isaac Asimov

To be most effective improvisation cannot occur in the abstract. It must be based upon prior learning, knowledge, common sense, experience and what has worked or not worked in the past.

For example, one of the NYPD officers in the NY Post article is a trained EMT. This background gave him an orientation from which to assess the emergency and to understand what responses would likely work and those that likely wouldn’t. Once a determination was made that a tourniquet was required, one was fashioned from the string cut from a pair of sweatpants and a piece of a doorframe. That the “proper” piece of equipment was not readily available did not prevent the officers from taking appropriate life saving action.

All of Excelsior’s courses combine instruction with practical hands on. Students learn not just the “steps” but the “why” something is done. It is our belief that in stressful situations this depth of understanding aids in recall. At Excelsior, students learn how to use a variety of equipment but perhaps more important is Excelsior’s emphasis on how to improvise when the proper equipment is not readily available.

Proper training saves lives.