Emergency response workers along with those in the healthcare setting traded information Thursday during a Lexington event. Ongoing severe weather to the west of Kentucky reinforces the need for emergency preparedness.
Display tables along with emergency vehicles and casualty treatment gear all were positioned inside the Blue Grass Airport hangar. Dave Carney is with the Kentucky Department of Public Health. He said recent flooding and tornadic activity in Missouri, Iowa, and Texas do impact decisions about federal appropriations for emergency response. “We kind of look around the country, what’s going on. And so we see the worth in these types of programs going on. And so, there is a lot more money sometimes that gets allocated to your healthcare coalition, so we can better support and buy the equipment that our first responders need,” said Carney.
One of the exhibits focused on “stop the bleed” education. Allied Health Instructor Susan Readnower said proper quick attention can stop life-threatening bleeding. “They could get injured on the job. They could get injured out doing their recreational activity. So, this is good for any person to know and be trained and we can even teach school age children, elementary and middle school aged children how to do this so that they can control bleeding. Because those minutes can make the difference in someone’s life,” explained Readnower.
Readnower said it’s all about the A-B-C approach. First, alert emergency medical personnel when the injury occurs, next locate the bleed, and then control the bleeding through compression, or if need be, a tourniquet.
Readnower speaks with WEKU’s Stu Johnson about “stop the bleed” in an extended interview.
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