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Of cers’ training, medical kit make difference to save gunshot victim
n BY DAN CAMPANA
It didn’t take long for the medical kits donated by Chica- go Police Foundation to make a difference on the streets.
Only about three weeks after 400 kits were distributed to officers who have received Law En-
forcement Medical and Rescue Train-
ing (LEMART), two 7th District patrol-
men put their kit to good use while working in Englewood on the evening of Nov. 13.
Officers John McGlynn and Michael
Hughes, who joined the department in
February, were rolling to a shots fired
call near 69th and Emerald when they
saw two men walking in the area, one
with a noticeable limp. “We noticed
one of them had a pretty big gunshot wound to the leg and he was bleeding pretty excessively from about the knee down,” McGlynn explained in a video interview posted to Facebook by the department.
The pair jumped into action, with Hughes calling for EMS and McGlynn applying a tourniquet from the trau- ma kit to the man’s left leg. “The tourniquet successfully
stopped the bleeding,” Hughes said, noting they stayed with the man until Chicago Fire Department personnel arrived.
EMS transported the 19-year-old to Stroger Hospital, where doctors told the man’s family and the officers he would survive his injuries. “His mother and family were thankful we were there to apply the tourniquet that did, in turn, save his
life ultimately,” McGlynn said.
The Chicago Police Foundation de- livered hundreds of kits on Oct. 21 to officers who went through LEMART in the police academy. Its goal is to have a total of 2,000 trauma kits in the hands of officers to supply them with life-sav- ing tools in emergency situations they encounter. Both McGlynn and Hughes agree the combination of training and the kit—not to mention the timing of everything— made the difference for this young man. “In late Octo- ber we received our medical kits from the Chicago Police Foundation, which included the tool that helped save this
victim’s life,” McGlynn shared. d
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