Medical Advances Bringing Down Homicide Rates
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) - With all we hear of violent crime, who would think murder rates are falling? It's happening all over. One example is in Fort Lauderdale. In 2008, Fort Lauderdale had 22 murders, last year, it was down to 13 and so far this year, it's fallen even more. "Right now, in 2010, we're are at 7," reporter Fort Lauderdale Police Detective Travis Mandell. "Our highest year, in 1987, was 55."
What's behind it? Aside from good policing, detectives credit advances in medical treatment on the scene and at the hospital.
Someone who knows about that first hand is retired BSO deputy Maury Hernandez. He was shot in the head on the job while going after a suspect in August of 2007. He could have been a murder victim.
"I should have died," said Hernandez . "The beginning of my success was definitely with these individuals, EMS, fire rescue and the emergency personnel who received me when I got to the hospital that day."
One factor that's making a difference in Fort Lauderdale is that Dr. Nabil El Sanadi is the Chief of Emergency Medicine at Broward Health, but he's also the Chief of EMS for Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue.
Dr. El Sanadi works with paramedics on cutting edge, life saving techniques. Right now – they're learning a lot from the military. "All we're doing is translating some of the battlefield medical techniques, lessons that we've learned from Iraq and Afghanistan," explains Dr. El Sanadi.
Examples include a battlefield tourniquet. It's faster and easier to use and can stop gunshot victims from bleeding to death. Another example is a gadget used for opening the airway of a patient, it's easier that other methods. "We cut off minutes or unsuccessful attempt and no airway whatsoever," explains EMS Capt. Greg May. "So we actually save a life in seconds."
