The Daviess County Sheriff’s Office is now even more equipped to help save a life when there are only a few moments to keep a traumatic injury from turning fatal.
Owensboro Health Regional Hospital Trauma Services on Tuesday donated about 40 individual Medical First Aid Kits (M-FAK) for each uniformed deputy. The OH Trauma Services Department staff will provide deputies with “Stop The Bleed” training in conjunction with issuing the kits.
Tony Decker, medical director of trauma services, said there were approximately 150,000 trauma deaths in the U.S. last year.
“The number one preventable cause of death after a trauma is uncontrolled hemorrhage — people bleed to death,” he said. “Seconds matter, minutes matter. One of the things that we know has been proven nationally over and over to help is the Stop the Bleed kits.”
Each deputy will be provided with an individual first aid kit which includes a tourniquet, chest seal, gloves, bandage, and emergency trauma dressing. The kit will be worn on the deputies’ external vest carriers, meaning it will be at the ready immediately if needed.
“When you’re on a scene and someone is bleeding out right in front of you, you don’t have time to run back to your car,” said Sheriff Brad Youngman. “Sometimes we can’t wait (for an ambulance). It’s just a fact of living in the county, sometimes it can take 15 minutes for an ambulance to get to the scene. Something has to happen right then, so we take action.”
OH President/CEO Mark Marsh also noted that deputies often arrive before paramedics, saying “with trauma, seconds do matter.” According to the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, trauma is the leading cause of death for individuals up to age 45 and the 4th-leading cause of death overall for all ages.
“We know through programs like this and how we respond, we can reduce some of those fatalities,” he said. “This program is about our loved ones. We want to make sure we can do everything we can to make sure we provide the greatest care possible throughout the entire region.”
The Stop the Bleed training program is administered by the American College of Surgeons. It teaches basic actions to stop life-threatening bleeding before medical help arrives.
Hannah Blanton, patient educator for Owensboro Health, said she will provide Stop the Bleed training for DCSO this week and next, then return annually to train new hires or give a refresher course. She said any kits that must be used will be replaced by OH.
OH Director of Trauma Services Mike Mixson added, “One of our goals at Owensboro Health is to be a good community partner and work with our law enforcement officials and first responders to help prepare them for trauma events which unfortunately happen. We will continue to partner with our community to educate and support injury prevention and exceptional trauma care however we can.”
