Ohio Launches New System to Treat Patients of Mass Casualty Events

PRESS RELEASE

In mass casualty events such as acts of violence, the initial responders can be faced with numerous priorities ranging from neutralizing or stopping further violence, managing an evacuation, providing directions and information to responding units and addressing the volume of injured victims.    

Based upon lessons learned from a variety of incidents, including the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, Franklin County Emergency Management and Homeland Security (FCEM&HS) along with Emergency Management Directors from the surrounding 14 counties will provide citizenAID Public Safety Drop Kits to first responders throughout Central Ohio. The Public Safety Drop Kits have been developed by citizenAID of North America. Each kit includes six individual public treatment kits which contain medical equipment and lifesaving instructions to help stop life threatening bleeding in the valuable minutes prior to advanced help and medical transportation arriving on the scene.

"We know that, historically, a window of time exists when the injured can’t be helped because law enforcement needs to first defuse the threat. The time between point of wounding and paramedic care is lengthened in a violent incident," explains citizenAID Founder/CEO and 25-year Fire Service veteran, Bob Otter. “With the new kits, police officers can now drop the appropriate equipment with citizens. The kit is designed for a lay person with no medical training to use, allowing the public to help themselves, to assess the injured, access supplies and save lives, all before professional medical care arrives.”  

The citizenAID Public Safety Drop Kit provides easy access to Public Treatment Kits (PTKs) which include tourniquets, pressure dressings and gauze to help control bleeding along with emergency blankets, and nitrile gloves. Most importantly, concise, step-by-step instructions and a citizenAID Pocket Guide are also part of each kit. The company has packaged six (PTKs) in a small, transportable bag, making it easy for first responders to “drop” them so civilians can help treat the wounded. 

“With these citizenAID Public Safety Drop Kits, we now have the ability to enable the uninjured to help save lives before EMS arrives,” said Jeffrey J. Young, Director, Franklin County Emergency Management and Homeland Security.  “Bystanders should no longer feel helpless, they should feel compelled to help. They are part of the chain of survival and we are empowering them to be successful in that role.” 

FCEM&HS has contracted with citizenAID to provide nearly 1000 Public Safety Drop Kits for placement in first responder vehicles such as police cruisers, fire and EMS vehicles as well as special event units working large crowd public events. The kits are being purchased through a State Homeland Security Program (SHSP) Grant which was awarded regionally to the 15 regional counties in Central Ohio.

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