County to provide emergency medical kits to first responders

Law enforcement agencies in Young County will be receiving Stop the Bleed kits for officers to have in their vehicles when responding to emergencies.

Jarod Cook, of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, shared a plan Monday, March 25 to distribute these kits primarily to law enforcement officers throughout the county. The Young County Commissioners Court unanimously approved the motion to purchase the kits.

The county, Graham Regional Medical Center and Olney Hamilton Hospital have agreed to work together to get these kits filled and distributed to the officers’ vehicles.

“The county would purchase these red bags, which they're about 10 bucks a bag and Olney hospital will fill half of them, Graham hospital will fill half of them,” Young County Judge Win Graham said. “Then we'll get them to all the sheriff's deputies, Olney PD and Graham PD.”

Each entity — the county, GRMC and OHH — would contribute $600, which would be enough to cover the costs of getting the pouches and filling the kits. The pouches will likely contain two tourniquets, four ABD pads, clean gauze and band aids.

“With officers patrolling the streets 24/7, they're oftentimes first on scene and within minutes of an incident taking place, they will be able to provide life saving interventions to victims, buying them precious time until advanced life support arrives via ambulance,” Cook said.

Recently, two police officers responded to a trauma call where they did an effective job of treating a victim with makeshift supplies. These kits will be placed inside every law enforcement vehicle in the same spot so officers will have the materials necessary to provide aid until more help arrives.

At this time, they’ll primarily be going to law enforcement officers, but some of the commissioners discussed the idea of getting them for rural fire departments, as well.

“We're trying to get them in the hands of the law enforcement because they're almost always there first,” Cook said. “And seeing what I've seen a month or so back, (the officers) did great with what they had, but the need is there to get an actual kit for them.”