Tourniquet in every pocket

Our position with Remote Access Medical during wildland fire season gives us unique access to crews from all over the world, the ability to assess their immediate needs and meet them right where they are. This season, that meant providing tourniquets and emergency hemorrhage control training to first-responders all the way from Northern California to remote parts of Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.

Our approach varies from crew to crew. Some are lacking in equipment and training. Some have the appropriate equipment, but haven’t been trained how to use it, or vice-a-versa. Others have both the equipment and training, but could use a reminder about why it’s so important to keep it within reach. A tourniquet in a first aid kit, back at the truck two miles down the trail, might as well be two thousand miles away in an emergency situation.

And, while every crew might be working in a slightly different situation, we are committed to putting a tourniquet in everyone’s pocket, from the remote-working hot shot crew, to the sawyers and swampers clearing fuels with chainsaws, to contract crews working the line.

Training might be a short ten-minutes while the crew is on break, it might be just for the crew bosses to take back to their personnel, due to a language barrier, but we strive to take every opportunity to educate an individual or a crew on the importance of having a tourniquet within reach for use in an emergency situation. They are a low-cost, simple tool to provide and use, but until everyone has one in their pocket and knows how to use it, there is still work to be done.