Frontline Medical Support
North Star is a community health collective focused on providing first aid and emergency care at protests, direct actions, and in moments of general upheaval around the Twin Cities and across so-called Minnesota. We train and support local street medics, as well as partner organizations and the broader community. If you would like us to support your event or provide any trainings, contact us.
Photo credit Ben Hovland
This training is generally considered the standard in so-called North America for street medics who have no medical background. While it now stretches a bit longer than 20 hours, it has typically been a long weekend of training. We cover street medic ethics and history, how we operate in the streets, patient assessment, first aid and other basic care, as well as police weaponry and more.
​Stop the Bleed is a national program developed by the The American College of Surgeons to develop public skills to save lives by treating life-threatening bleeding. This training provides didactic and hands-on practice to teach participants how to recognize life-threatening bleeding and control it with three simple techniques.
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North Star is dedicated to spreading these skills at a time when our communities are wracked by gun violence, mass shootings make daily headlines, and protestors are shot at by vigilantes and the police alike so that we can protect each other as we fight for collective liberation.
Health & Safety trainings are offered to community members and groups that would like basic information to stay healthier in the streets. These trainings typically last 2-3 hours and offer skills that can be tailored to a group or situation's specific needs. For example, in support of the fight against the Line 3 pipeline in winter, we focused on cold weather and cop weapons. We have also tailored these to fit the needs of community groups that work in houseless encampments or in preparation for upcoming political events.
For those in community with medical backgrounds (EMS, WFRs, Nurses), we offer a Bridge Training that focuses on medic ethics, history, and translating skills to a street context, in addition to dealing with chemical weapons and other protest-specific skills.
Supplies
We have been so fortunate to receive generous donations, including many supplies. The supplies working group keeps us organized and restocks things as needed for our medics. When possible, we also share with community. If you have material to donate or need medical supplies, please contact us.
