Arizona Deputies Use Tourniquets to Save Lives
Pima County (Ariz.) Sheriff's Deputies have been using first-aid kits with tourniquets for years and are crediting the kits with saving lives after the 2011 shooting of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson.
Photo: Pima County SO, via Facebook
The Pima County (Ariz.) Sheriff's Office is realizing how valuable their deputy-issued tourniquets have been in recent years. KUSA-TV 9 Tucson is reporting on the combat gauze and tourniquets that form the foundation of what every Pima County Sheriff's deputy calls an "IFAK" or "individual first aid kit."
PCSO deputies were among the first responders to the attack on U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords on January 8, 2011.
Three years after a gunman killed six and injured 13 on the north end of the desert town, deputies like Gilbert Caudillo hardly need a reminder as to why the IFAK needs to be ready to go at all times.
"It was pretty overwhelming looking at that many people all down on the ground," Pima County Deputy Caudillo said while standing in the precise location he stood the day of the shooting. "For a while, it was just me up here with all of these people. It was just a lot to take on.
Doctors are estimating as many as three people owe their lives to the actions of the responding law enforcement officers with tourniquets.
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