ABOUT THE TRAINING

This comprehensive training will educate the first responder on what autism is and how people are affected by it. Firefighters and EMS personnel will learn rescue techniques and patient care. They will learn the wide spectrum of autism and verbal techniques to deal with them. The student will be given different tools that can help identify people with autism, sensory problems and calming techniques. Students will learn the importance of multiple officers’ presence when an arrest of an autism person is necessary and restraint considerations. The officer will learn the importance of looking at water sources when a person with autism elopes. They will be taught the different programs that are available for people that elope, including but not limited to, the Take Me Home Program and Project Lifesaver.

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Retired Lt. Jimmy Donohoe of the Pensacola Florida Police Department and Retired Captain Bill Cannata of the Westwood Massachusetts Fire Department have been training first responders on how to better handle a call involving autism and related disabilities since 2005. It makes a difference when a 1st responder stands in front of a first responder to train on any subject, but especially autism. Both, Jimmy and Bill, have sons on the autism spectrum and are career long professionals in their perspective fields. The interaction between the presenters and their audience has proven too been successful with a 99 percent approval rating from their evaluations. 

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These two instructors are recognized as international experts in this field. They have traveled from Providence,  Rhode Island to Long Beach California and from Anchorage Alaska to West Palm Beach Florida and many points in between. They have trained thousands of first responders on how to better handle that call involving autism. Both have received calls and testimonies from first responders that have saved lives because of the training they have provided.