HUNDREDS of life-saving bleed control kits are set to be installed across the region.
The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner is set to pay-out for more than 400 specialist first aid kits will be put in place across Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton.
The medical supply packs, which include bandages, tourniquets and gloves, are designed to be easy to use and to keep an injured person alive, until they can receive treatment from a paramedic or doctor.
On average it takes an ambulance eight minutes to reach a patient – but bleeding from serious injuries, such as those suffered in a stabbing, shooting, car or industrial accident can prove fatal in as little as three minutes. A bleed control kit can save lives, so treatment can begin before paramedics arrive.
It follows a previous 400 kits that were purchased for the region in 2020, with venues such as shopping centres, supermarkets, pubs, schools, youth centres and fast-food restaurants set to have their bleed control kits upgraded.
The new roll-out of the kits follows committed, devoted and passionate campaigning from Lynne Baird who tragically lost her son Daniel in July 2017, aged just 26, after he was stabbed to death in Birmingham.
In 2019, she set up the Daniel Baird Foundation, which campaigns for bleed control kits to be placed in locations that are easily accessible to the public.
Mr Foster said: “My top priority is to prevent, tackle and reduce violence but, if someone sustains a wound, either by accident or, worse, because they are stabbed, getting urgent treatment to stop the bleed as quickly as possible is essential.
“The bleed control kits have been approved by the National Trauma Network and West Midlands Ambulance Service, specifically for public use in an emergency to control a catastrophic bleed.
“These kits, which include specialist dressings, gloves and a tourniquet, are a simple but clever idea that provide users with the equipment and instructions needed to save a life.”
