Volunteer doc gives paintball gamers first-rate emergency medical facility

You can take some people out of the military, but you can’t take the military out of some people.
And if you’ll ask any old ground-pounder, the best people to have around at any time are the “Docs” -- field medics.
While the sport of paintball doesn’t run a  high risk of injury, anyone participating in events at Tactical Paintball in Harwood can get fully involved knowing that should the worst happen, the Docs are close by.
The military-simulation operation has its own volunteer emergency-room doctor on board -- Dr. Robert Allen of San Antonio, who has built and stocked a makeshift field hospital which would rival many brick-and-mortar clinics.
“The worst injury I’ve had to deal with out here was one guy who got stung by a fire ant and had a severe allergic reaction,” Allen said. “We were able to treat him for anaphylactic shock. If he’d ahd to wait until he got to the hospital in Gonzales, I don’[t think he would have made it.”
Allen is a former combat doctor with the Air Force special forces, and as such knows the value of good medics.
He credits the presence of another San Antonio outfit, players who are all emergency medical technicians, with making his job even easier.
“It’s like, if anybody ever gets hurt, within 30 seconds there’s wall-to-wall paramedics with him, all I have to do is coordinate,” Allen said.
Allen’s equipment includes everything from a defribulator to a video laryngicscope, as well as a field pharmaceutical kit.
“I’m out to do simple first aid, but I’m a paranoid old ER doc,” he chuckles. “Plus, it gets me out of the garage on the weekends. I’ve had to put a few stitches in out here, but that’s about all.”