Glasgow Police Department receives trauma kits, ‘Stop the Bleed’ training

GLASGOW, Ky. — The Glasgow Police Department received an extra set of resources to provide potentially lifesaving care, thanks to the T.J. Regional Health community.

According to a release by T.J. Regional Health, it worked alongside the T.J. Community Mission Foundation through T.J. Samson Community Hospital’s Level IV Trauma Center to present the police department with individual trauma first aid tourniquet kits.

The release says the kits are designed to help officers provide lifesaving care during emergency situations.

According to T.J. Regional Health, the foundation provided 41 individual kits, enough to equip every Glasgow Police Department officer with a personal trauma kit that can be carried in their utility vest while on duty.

In addition, the release states five advanced sling bags containing around four times the amount of lifesaving supplies found in the individual kits were provided for use by school resource officers.

Kits of this type are designed to equip individuals to respond to life-threatening emergencies before emergency medical personnel arrive, the release says.

According to T.J. Regional Health, uncontrolled bleeding is one of the leading causes of preventable death after injury.

The program teaches several techniques, including direct pressure, wound packing and tourniquet application, which can save lives in critical moments immediately after a traumatic injury. The project also included specialized Stop the Bleed® training for Glasgow Police Department officers, led by certified Stop the Bleed instructors who serve as team members at T.J. Regional Health.

With this training and the new trauma kits, health officials say officers are better prepared to provide lifesaving care during critical minutes before emergency medical teams arrive.

Ashley Ritter, trauma program coordinator for T.J. Regional Health, emphasized the importance of putting lifesaving tools into the hands of first responders.

Ritter says, “Severe bleeding can cause death in as little as five minutes, often before emergency responders can arrive. By equipping our law enforcement officers with bleeding control kits and the training to use them, we are putting lifesaving tools directly into the hands of those who are frequently first on the scene. This program helps ensure that immediate care can begin when every second matters.”

Ritter also noted the connection between the initiative and the hospital’s trauma program.

She says, “As a designated Level IV Trauma Center, T.J. Regional Health is committed to injury prevention and improving trauma outcomes across our region. Providing bleeding control kits to law enforcement officers extends trauma care beyond the hospital walls and helps ensure that lifesaving interventions can begin at the earliest possible moment.”

Randy Burns, executive director of the T.J. Community Mission Foundation, said the Foundation was honored to support the department through the grant.

Burns says, “The T.J. Community Mission Foundation is honored to be able to provide this lifesaving equipment to the Glasgow Police Department. Our healthcare network has a wonderful working relationship with the leadership and officers of the department, and to be able to provide them with this equipment is very meaningful to our board of directors.”

Glasgow Police Chief Guy Howie expressed appreciation for the partnership and the resources being provided to the officers.

He says, “These kits will provide our officers with immediate first aid trauma kits and training that they can have ready every shift they work. Glasgow is a great community and the relationship that we have with T.J. Samson Community Hospital is a great example to the rest of the community of how we all can work together. Any time we can combine these kinds of resources to help each other is just another way we are all working together to make this an even better community.”

This marks the second project of this type funded by the T.J. Community Mission Foundation. In 2021, the Foundation provided Stop the Bleed kits to both the Columbia Police Department and the Adair County Sheriff’s Department.