I want to honor people who do extraordinary things to make our lives better. My first “hero” is David Kleinman who developed the critical battle-field first-aid kit for the Tucson police. Those kits saved lives after the recent shooting incident. Below is a short summary of the National Public Radio story that inspired me to recognize Mr. Kleinman. You can hear the entire story if you click below.
First responders at the Arizona shootings had an unusual tool: a fanny-pack-sized collection of first-aid materials based on gear used to save soldiers on the battlefield. And it allowed Pima County sheriff’s deputies to begin treating the wounded in the crucial minutes before paramedics arrived. Other deputies arrived. They began CPR and opened the kits. Each contained $99 worth of gear assembled by David Kleinman, the medic for the sheriff’s SWAT team. He got the idea to carry the packs after noticing how many police officers were dying from wounds they got in the line of duty.
“It wasn’t necessary for them to perish,” Kleinman says. “Had there been tools like this they probably would have survived.”
Kleinman came up with a two-hour training program called “the First Five Minutes.” He adapted an I-FAK — an Infantry First Aid Kit — for civilian use. Included in the kit’s five items is an emergency bandage he says was originally called an Israeli bandage.
The bandage — developed by the Israeli military — looks like an Ace bandage you’d wrap around your knee, with a gauze pad and clips to tighten it. It can be used on any part of the body to cover a wound and stop bleeding; you can even wrap it with a stick and use it as a leg splint. Combat gauze is also in the kit. It’s infused with coagulant to stop bleeding. There are shears to cut away clothing. A black nylon tourniquet. And an Asherman chest seal — a bandage that fits over a gunshot or stab wound and has a valve for fluid to escape. Everything in the kit is designed to be used quickly. That’s because people with severe wounds can die in the precious minutes before paramedics arrive or before it’s safe for them to enter a crime scene or an accident area.
Great idea. I’m looking forward to more in this series.
Plenty of people behind the scenes of life make incredible contributions yet they go unrecognized, Bill. This story of David Kleinman, who came up with the kit and developed a training program so all the police officers learned how to use it properly, struck a chord in me. Kleinman deserves thanks and praise.
Wow – amazing story, George. Thanks for sharing it.
Yes, the FIRST FIVE MINUTE KIT story impressed me, Jeff. David Kleinman deserves recognition for a kit that saved lives in Tucson.
We should all think of something this useful and worthy.
As I discover people doing Good Things like David Kleinman’s FIRST FIVE MINUTES KIT, Drongo, I’ll celebrate them here on my blog. I wish I was as innovative as Kleinman obviously is.
It is so nice to find heroes in this world. Mine are fire fighters.
I admire fire fighters and police, too, Patti. They perform difficult jobs in scary situations.
Thank you for this, George. While there are everyday heroes all around us, we seldom hear of them or recognize them. Too often the ones who get media attention are the everyday shitheels.
Exactly, Jerry! There’s just too much negativity out there. Plenty of people are doing Good Things and I’ll do my part to identify and praise them.