I went looking for this thread as I had remembered reading it a while back as I had occasion to use a personally-owned CAT tourniquet last month in Manhattan. We had been issued them and carry it on our duty rig but after seeing and hearing about how effective they were I bought a few and put them in my carry bag and one in my vehicle. At the time of the incident mentioned here I had finished my tour for the day and was actually driving home on the West Side Highway when I came across the truck that had jumped a curb. The truck had smashed into a light post and I noted that there was a person being attended to by two other people. What struck me was that it was so odd in the middle of New York City to not see any emergency vehicles or anyone in uniform, so I decided to stop.
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This is a description taken from an email sent by our director of operational medicine:
"The FBI has its own uniformed police force securing several of our key facilities across the country. The FBI Operational Medicine staff has trained them in our version of TC3 combat lifesaver and equipped them with TQs carried on their patrol belts and IFAKS in police vehicles and guard posts.
Last week one of our police officers in Manhattan came upon a victim of a reported auto-pedestrian accident sitting on a bench at the scene. He observed a large quanity of blood running through the slats of the bench from a wound in the victim's thigh. Another rescuer was attempting to use a belt as a TQ without effect. The officer applied his issued TQ 'high and tight' over clothing per TC3 principles with good result. I am told the victim was transferred to EMS awake and alert."
The victim had been standing by the road waiting to cross when she was struck by the vehicle. Driver had fallen asleep after working an overnight shift and jump the curb. She sustained a broken pelvis, a broken kneecap and a deep laceration on her thigh. One of my lieutenants has since spoken to the attending physician and was told that had the tourniquet not been applied when it was the victim would have needed at the very least a transfusion due to blood loss.
I wanted to put this on m4c as the most positive thing that has come out of the event has been all the agents and support staff that have located, re-located or purchased either an IFAK or a tourniquet themselves to keep in or around their person all the time. We had received our Care Under Fire (CUF) training from a couple of medics on the New York SWAT team and I felt more than prepared when the incident actually occurred. I can say from experience that the CAT is both extremely simple and effective. As I had never used one other than in training before the incident mentioned above.
Anyway, that's my story and I thought it was fitting to add into this thread.
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Originally Posted by HardToHandle
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