–More than 1,400 Middlesex County first responders, including police officers and firefighters, will participate in a new training program designed to enhance the skills they need to care for severely injured people in the moments before medical professionals arrive at the scene.
According to Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey and Tom Bykowski, coordinator for the county office of Emergency Management and Preparedness, the program is called “Bleeding Control for the Injured.” It is a four-hour course on life-saving skills that will be offered at the Middlesex County Police Training Center in Edison during September, October and November.
Under the program, first responders will learn how to control severe bleeding and will receive an individual first aid kit equipped with a tactical tourniquet, a modular bandage with a hemostatic blood-clotting agent, a chest seal, a nasopharyngeal airway device, surgical tape and latex gloves. Each kit can be easily attached to a police officer’s utility belt.
A federal Urban Area Security Initiative Grant of $282,598 from the from the Department of Homeland Security is funding the initiative. Under the grant, $183,798 will be used to purchase the kits, and $98,800 will go toward the educational training.
“This important training will enable first responders to apply more sophisticated medical techniques that could mean the difference between life and death for severely injured victims,” Prosecutor Carey said. “The chances of survival are greatly increased when first responders have the kinds of life-saving skills that this new training program will provide.”
Chief Matthew Geist of the Middlesex Borough Police Department is the program liaison to the Middlesex County Chiefs of Police Association and is coordinating the rollout of this program to the law enforcement community.
“We are excited to be able to provide this invaluable training to police officers in Middlesex County,” Chief Geist said. “Of the many important things that police officers are called upon to accomplish, none is more important or more gratifying then saving a life. This training and equipment will enhance our ability to do just that.”