Law enforcement officers participate in training for new belt trauma kits

Fri, 08/28/2015 - 4:45pm

    ROCKLAND – We all know the oft-told stories of police officers helping deliver babies, but today’s cop is being relied on to do more than deliver babies and enforce laws. Today’s police officer is often the first respondent on a scene because they are the one most likely to be mobile first, actively out on patrol.

    Everyday, there are erratic drivers suffering heart attacks and other health emergencies, and the result can sometimes be a traumatic accident along the road and neighborhoods we live.

    As we often see on television and in videos, police officers sometimes jump into action when there is an accident, when a driver needs to be quickly extricated or bleeding staunched to prevent compounding injuries or certain death.

    In response to these realities, Knox County law enforcement officers are adding another piece of equipment to their duty belts: a belt trauma kit. The BTK is compact, lightweight and holds first aid supplies necessary to provide immediate hemostatic first aid for a variety of emergency and traumatic bleeding situations.

    With this equipment, law enforcement officers can save lives or prevent serious conditions from getting worse by using the belt trauma kit, which also include tourniquets to stop arterial blood flow in an extremity.

    The belt trauma kits are becoming a standard part of officers’ duty belts throughout the country. In some states, like New York, the BTK is a standard issue and funded through the state’s division of Homeland Security. Other law enforcement communities are conducting fundraising campaigns or writing grants to obtain funding to purchase the kits.

    In Knox County, the belt trauma kits were funded through a grant obtained by the Knox County Emergency Management Association, according to deputy Justin Hills, who assisted with the grant process.

    Hills is also a paramedic and he has been using his medical experience during the summer to train fellow cops on how to use the various components of the belt trauma kit.

    The belt trauma kit includes QuikClot gauze, a stretch-wrap-and-tuck tourniquet, rubber gloves and a cardiopulmonary resuscitation mask. The S-W-A-T tourniquet is a 4-inch-wide stretch strap of rubber that fits on anyone, even small children. The kit also includes a combat application tourniquet, or C-A-T, which is military approved and also used in combat zones. 

    During the training, officers discussed how the types of situations many law enforcement officers are now responding to have dramatically changed during the past 15 years. The types of threats have changed, with increasing multiple slayings at public places such as schools and movie theaters.

    “The threats are out there and it can happen at any time and we have to be vigilant and proactive with training law enforcement for these terrible possibilities,” said Hills. “Also, if there is a shooting, weapons standoff or hostage situation, paramedics do not have the tactical training or protection to treat the injured so that leaves the initial treatment and possibly saving of lives up to law enforcement.”

    According to Hills, if the tourniquet is applied to a victim before shock sets in, there is a 90-percent survival rate.

    Recent classroom training with Hills consisted of hands-on experience with techniques to stop heavy bleeding, apply tourniquets and transport victims out of a danger area. Outside, the Knox EMA parking lot was transformed into various training scenarios and officers participated in tactical training exercises including providing first aid to an officer who was shot, an active domestic violence situation and using a cruiser as a protector to provide first aid if shots were being fired from a nearby building.

    The challenge for many of the officers was applying the tourniquet with one hand while holding their weapon, if back-up had not arrived yet on the scene.

    Hills said that the training is available online, but feels the hands-on training and classroom instruction is much more effective. He is hoping that next year, area law enforcement departments will include training funds in their budgets. Many of the officers have to come on their day off for the training, and many departments do not have the funds to reimburse them for their class time.

     


    Sarah Shepherd can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com