Mayor Dennis Hession, Fire Chief Bobby Williams, and Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick announced that starting this week, the City's firefighters and police officers will receive specialized training on how to handle cases of "excited delirium." The first training session will take place on Friday, March 23, from 9 a.m. to noon at the City's Fire Training Center, 1618 N. Rebecca.

"We take this issue very seriously, and today we are making a significant commitment to ensure the safety of all of our citizens," says Mayor Dennis Hession. "We have a duty to equip our police and firefighters with tools they need to respond in these circumstances."

Over the next eight weeks, all the City's firefighters and police officers will receive the training, which will include information on how to identify cases of excited delirium, how to respond to people exhibiting excited delirium symptoms, protocols for operating on the scene of such a medical emergency, and protocols for the dispatch of emergency personnel to such an emergency.

In addition to police and firefighters, local 9-1-1 operators, Police and Fire dispatchers, American Medical Response (AMR) employees, and representatives from Spokane Mental Health also will receive the training. The Spokane County Sheriff's Office also will send a number of people to observe the training.

These incidents require coordination between emergency medical personnel and police. Coordinated training for police and firefighters in how to handle such incidents was part of the Fire Department's recommendations to improve patient care following the death of Otto Zehm, who exhibited the symptoms of excited delirium, in March 2006. This training also was included in Chief Kirkpatrick's 2007 goals for the Police Department.

Excited delirium is a life-threatening medical emergency characterized by agitation, excitability, confusion, paranoia, and bizarre behavior that's often associated with mental illness and/or stimulant drug use. Symptoms often include sweating, shouting, elevated temperature, impaired judgment and impulse control, unexpected strength, imperviousness to pain, and violent resistance to restraint. In some cases, the condition has led to cardiopulmonary arrest and sudden death.