Loss of blood can kill a person within five minutes.
Through a $20,000 West Virginia Homeland Security grant the Raleigh County Sheriff’s office has been able to buy more than 200 STOP THE BLEED trauma kits.
“We’re able to give them to every police officer in Raleigh County, our headquarters here and the one soon to be in Ghent and Glen Daniel,” said Sheriff Jim Canaday. “They’re gonna have STOP THE BLEED packs, too. So we’re really thankful to be able to do this.”
STOP THE BLEED kits are packed with essentials.
“With such things as a tourniquet, some specialized gauze,” Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Jason L. Redden said. “It has a quick clot agent in it, has shears, gloves, anything an officer or even just a layperson might need to stop somebody from bleeding.”
According to Sergeant Jamie Blume, several guys in the Beckley Police Department are instructors with the STOP THE BLEED program. They’ve concentrated heavily on life-saving medical skills and training.
“Both on their person and then in their patrol vehicles as well. And over the past few years unfortunately, or fortunately, whichever way you wanna look at it — our guys had to use that equipment and that knowledge,” Blume said. “So it’s come in handy and I’m glad that this equipment is gonna add to their potential and their capabilities.”
There are many reasons why one might need a STOP THE BLEED kit.
“Fall and be hurt. We could be involved in some type of shooting incident or it could have been a domestic, a stabbing,” said Redden. “So these can come in handy in a lot of different situations; especially when a lot of times the police officer who’s already out on the road patrolling may be right on top of an incident where you have to wait for first responders or an EMS unit to come from a station or far away. So they might be able to start rendering that life-saving care that might make the difference.”
