In the Media: Improvised Tourniquets

Here at Qualsafe Awards, we love to hear about how people have used their first aid and CPR training to help save lives. With all of these great stories now hitting the headlines on a more frequent basis, we are even more delighted when we hear about how members of the public are able to use their newly learnt tourniquet skills to save lives too.

Just at the start of this month, Qualsafe Awards Trainer, PCSO Matthew Kieboom took part in a Trainer workshop on catastrophic bleeding at his Centre, Dyfed-Powys Police, so that the topic could be introduced into their first aid courses. Just one week later he found himself having to use his skills to save the life of someone suffering from a severe arterial bleed after cutting their arm on glass. Remembering his training, Matthew was able to create an improvised tourniquet from just his belt and a spoon (from a nearby house) and kept the casualty alive until an ambulance arrived.

Matthew had the following to say:

 “I cannot stress enough how effective the tourniquet can be – even a Blue Peter version – with what you have to hand or nearby…

“In this incident, because we were so close and the tourniquet was applied so quickly, the casualty not only stayed alive but remained conscious.”

Following the arrival of the Ambulance Service, the casualty was rushed straight into life-saving surgery and is now making a full recovery. To read more on this heroic story and how Matthew Kieboom’s improvised tourniquet saved a man’s life, simply click here.

The heroic stories don’t stop there. Also hitting the headlines recently was Tom Dorman, and how he was able to save his own life by showing bystanders how to improvise a tourniquet from a jumper. You can read more on Tom’s story here.

With stories like Matthew’s and Tom’s becoming more and more frequent, it really goes to show how important learning these life-saving skills can be, and how introducing management of catastrophic bleeding to your first aid courses can mean the difference between life and death.