In an active shooter or mass casualty situation, law enforcement personnel are typically first on scene, responsible for securing the scene before EMS providers enter. As true first responders, police officers may need to provide immediate, life-saving measures until EMS arrives. It is vital they have the supplies and training to do this.
Winchester Medical Center’s state-designated Level 2 Trauma Center is committed to improving outcomes for the approximately 1,700 trauma patients it treats each year. This includes collaborating with community partners to ensure patients receive the best definitive care in the field and enroute to the Emergency Department. The leading cause of trauma death is bleeding; the ability to control bleeding is key to survival.
Trauma leadership requested $10,000 from the WMC Foundation to assemble 45 kits of medical-grade trauma management products that will be regularly updated and swapped out for hospital use before their expiration. Each kit includes all the items necessary for patrol officers to begin lifesaving measures immediately: a variety of tourniquets, wound packing supplies, and QuikClot, a hemostatic agent that causes blood to coagulate.
Mass casualty kits provided by Winchester Public Schools grant five years ago have been pivotal in at least four situations the WPD encountered, enabling them to provide care within minutes.
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