Page 34 - August 2017

O cers in LEMAR training prepare pressure bandages after learning the proper situations to use them when treating a wounded person.
THE LEMART DIFFERENCE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33
mind as he stood in a pool of gas from the van’s leaking fuel tank.
The next thing Ryan knew, Bernson was there cutting off his blood-soaked hoodie and reassuring him he’d be OK. Bernson said she sheepishly apologized for destroy- ing the sweatshirt, but she knew it was necessary to figure out how badly Ryan had been hurt.
“I was like, ‘Oh, God, what are we going to find?’ That’s when I saw the hole (in his arm) and the blood was just oozing down,” observed Bernson, a 9th District officer with 14 years on the job.
Amid the chaos, Bernson’s Law Enforcement Medi- cal and Rescue Training kicked in without much second thought. She grabbed her kit and immediately tied a tour- niquet on Ryan’s arm.
“I didn’t hesitate to use it on him. I’m not going to let this kid die on me,” she recalled of the moment.
Bernson’s use of medical and recue training and kit made all the difference for Ryan.
“I had already lost a lot of blood – and because of the one in my back, nobody knew on scene if I was bleeding
34 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ AUGUST 2017
internally – so keeping the amount of blood I had in me was important,” Ryan continued. “I got shot four times with a rifle, and the tourniquet hurt the most. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
As Bernson and Ryan recounted the May shooting, nearly two dozen other officers were next door in the mid- dle of a full day of Law Enforcement Medical and Rescue Training – commonly referred to as LEMART – inside a Chicago police facility on the outskirts of O’Hare Interna- tional Airport.
Bernson, Ryan and several officers know firsthand the life-changing value of LEMART and the LEMAR kits be- cause they have experienced the reality of its use on the streets.
So they attended this particular training session in July as a refresher. It’s just that important.
“I think it’s the best training in 25 years that I’ve ever had,” offered 8th District Sergeant Cathlene Hillman, who has trained twice and used a tourniquet from the LEMAR kit to save a shooting victim earlier this past spring. “Every time I see it comes up, I’m hounding all the police officers I’m supervising to get in here.”
During the classroom portion of the training, o cers learned how to apply items such as the pressure bandage to themselves.
During LEMAR training, O cers work in pairs during breakout sessions with instructors before performing a pro ciency assessment on the use of tourniquets, pressure bandages and quick-clot gauze.