EXCLUSIVE: Prospect Park Police Learning Life-Saving Techniques To Help Them Treat Gunshot Victims
PROSPECT PARK, Pa. (CBS) -- Police officers in Prospect Park are learning new life-saving measures specifically designed to help them treat gunshot victims. Some say it is an unfortunate necessity in light of plaguing gun violence.
The Prospect Park Police Department believes their officers can do more.
When wounded in the line of duty, seconds matter.
"You lose a limb, you gotta stop the bleeding. You get a bad wound near an artery, you gotta stop that bleeding quickly," Paul Abrams said.
Abrams' firm, Doc Abrams Training and Supplies, trains police or anybody on best practices treating trauma patients while waiting for help.
"There is really nothing else in this area going on to educate police officers, laypeople, teachers -- God forbid something happens," Abrams said.
Abrams has a kit of essentials.
"Inside is a tourniquet, a pressure bandage, a splint for fractures," Abrams said. "I call it the football, the big dock, IFAC."
That stands for individual first aid kit.
In a first for the area, Prospect Park Police recently contracted with Abrams to train officers on clock-conscious, life-saving measures.
"We have to be able to tend to victims because you never know when medical help is around the corner, where they're located due to another emergency," Prospect Park Police Chief Dave Madonna said.
Controlling blood loss is the greatest challenge. Much of the course focuses on officers who are riding solo.
"If something happens on their own, they're their only resource. So self-aid is still very important," Abrams said.
Getting a tourniquet on quickly and as calmly as possible is a major part of the course.
"When it hurts you know it's good. If you at least put a tourniquet on in under a minute, you've enhanced your chances of survival greatly," Abrams said.
The training also includes some psychology -- assessing what to do, make that plan and then do it.
