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THE LEMART DIFFERENCE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35
Chicago safer and allow them to serve citizens more ef- ficiently and effectively,” cites Chicago Police Founda- tion Chair John C. Robak, when explaining the organiza- tion’s decision to take the lead on providing LEMART kits. “When our board members and donors see that contri- butions are going to something like the LEMART program that will make a difference in the law enforcement com- munity, they are energized. They are inspired.”
And it is making a difference faster than even the CPF, the Department or the officers on the street could have ever imagined.
“You never know when it’s going to happen to you,” Gle- ich said. “Obviously, we weren’t expecting it just coming up on two years.”
What would you do in this situation?
Gleich and Pentek knew each other before and during the academy and have been partners for six months. That bond means an ability to game plan for a variety of things that can happen patrolling the streets.
The pair did just that after hearing a call of an officer shot not far from 81st Street and Drexel Avenue.
“We knew we’d pretty much be the first ones on scene,” Pentek said, noting that he and Gleich discussed en route how they would approach the situation.
The officer suffered a gunshot to the hand. Gleich grabbed his LEMAR kit from the car. Pentek used a tourni- quet on the officer’s arm, and Gleich tightly wrapped the hand. Although they briefly thought about driving the of-
ficer to a hospital, they ultimately treated him and walked him to a waiting ambulance.
“The training all came back to me. And it came back to (Gleich). The way he wrapped that wound, it was like he’s done it a hundred times,” Pentek explained. “If you just come to class and don’t think about it, you’re gonna for- get it. The wheels should be turning upstairs about ‘what would I do in this situation.’”
Like other training, instincts eventually take over. Hill- man first took LEMART with her tactical team and then again when she was promoted in March. She opted for the refresher visit after being called to the scene where a young man had been shot in the leg.
“It was bright blood,” Hillman described, referring to the training’s explanation for how to identify an arterial bleed. “It was like someone was pouring out syrup. The whole sidewalk was just covered.”
She carries a tourniquet on the left side of her vest and immediately used it on the man who she said was los- ing color in his face. After she cinched up the tourniquet properly, the man rebounded almost instantaneously.
“Just like that, it was all over,” she said. “I really thought he was going to die.”
Being prepared for those moments is a natural part of being a police officer, in Hillman’s view.
“If they had the training and the tourniquet, everyone that I’ve ever worked with would do the same thing,” Hill- man shared. “It just clicked. It was automatic.” d
36 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ AUGUST 2017