Opinion
What is “911?”
During the recent tragic TX flooding, a man punched out a window in an effort to escape from an unstable trailer.
“Julian, a restaurant dishwasher, was asleep in a trailer with his fiancée, their 6-year-old and 13-month-old children, and his mother Marilyn when the flood hit early Friday.
Water began pouring into their bedroom, quickly rising to waist height and lifting the mattress.
Christina said the kids were placed on top of the floating mattress while the adults looked for a way out.
Julian smashed the glass window to reach the roof, but the jagged edges nearly severed his arm.”
Over the next few minutes, he bled to death, although he was continuously surrounded by family members!
Of course, family members immediately called 911, and then they waited!
But, no EMS units could reach the location quickly, due to the scale of the disaster.
In light of the foregoing, we all need to be reminded that a 911 call is nothing more than a “request for service.”
A 911 call will usually get help rolling your way, but in the immediate circumstance, you are the sole “first responder.”
In the above case, a tourniquet, applied immediately, likely would have saved this man’s life. “Waiting around for help to arrive,” while doing nothing to abrogate the threat, is tantamount to a death sentence.
As I’ve noted many times, in most parts of the nation, PDs and FDs are now critically short-staffed. Response times are way up.
This tragic tale should motivate all of us to ramp-up our personal preparedness, in both kit and training.
When an emergency is upon us (as in the incident above), we’ll surely call 911, but we’re going right to our life-saving work, without delay.
We’re not “waiting!”
“The reason for ‘delay’ is usually not laziness, nor unwillingness. The reason is more often that necessary knowledge has never been translated into a simple, usable, and systematic form.” ~ Atul Gawande.
/John
Live Inventory Price Checker
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Tourniquet Now! Strap Tourniquet Holder - Tourniquet Now Holder, Black | Brownells.com | $ 12.95 |
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SOF Tactical Wide Tourniquet - Black (1.5" strap width) | AR500 Armor | $ 35.00 |
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Blue Force Gear Tourniquet Now 4.75" x 1" x 0.13" Tourniquet Holder, Black | Palmetto State Armory | $ 13.99 $ 11.99 |
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CAT Tourniquet | My Medic | $ 34.95 |
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About John Farnam & Defense Training International, Inc
As a defensive weapons and tactics instructor, John Farnam will urge you, based on your beliefs, to make up your mind about what you would do when faced with an imminent lethal threat. You should, of course, also decide what preparations you should make in advance if any. Defense Training International wants to ensure that its students fully understand the physical, legal, psychological, and societal consequences of their actions or in-actions.
It is our duty to make you aware of certain unpleasant physical realities intrinsic to Planet Earth. Mr. Farnam is happy to be your counselor and advisor. Visit: www.defense-training.com
YOU ARE YOUR OWN FIRST RESPONDER. Simple training and a cool head could have and likely would have saved this man. Very few people actually think in a desperate situation which is why training helps. Your training will kick in when a situation presents itself. Calling 911 and waiting for help, in many cases, is a self imposed death sentence, we have seen this many times. In this case lots of stuff was going on at the same time. The trailer was flooding, the door could not be opened due to water pressure, time seemed short and there was likely… Read more »
the list of things that went wrong because of lack of forethought is amazing poor prior planning precipitates piss pore performance 7 Ps
everyone needs basic emergency training boy scout motto be prepared
I retired this past February, after 20 years on the job. After I was injured in a bar fight, I spent the last ten years between the road and dispatch. I worked for a three square mile city in farm country 30 miles north of Detroit. During day shift, our department usually only had one officer on the road, but the chief and a detective were in there offices, and the school resource officer was near by at the school. One morning the chief was on vacation, school was out (no recourse officer) and the detective was two cities over… Read more »
Sometimes an Israeli Bandage is a better option than a tourniquet. They come vacuum sealed. Fostered medically intense and hospice infants & children for 24 years and dealt with a variety of 911 level incidents.
A trailer is definitely what I would call “pay attention” housing!
Unfortunately, the ad for the Trans Pak Pro only allowed for the 1 comment providing it’s price. Critical info was not supplied, such as shelf-life under normal house conditions, and how much should it be derated if kept in a car (can reduce shelf-life by years). Many kits that rely on an elastic material or band, can deteriorate in less than 1 year under high-temperature storage conditions, and the material becomes inelastic…and can thus seriously degrade its functionality. I advise learning how, as the Boy Scouts did, to also make and use a tourniquet from available materials that don’t necessarily… Read more »
I don’t know about now but when I was in school, we spent a week learning about how to save people with wounds such as this, heat exhaustion, choking etc.. I learned more in the military. I venture to say that he was not American born and did not get an education here in America and neither did his fiancé of over 6 years that was probably on welfare which is the main reason they were not wed when she got pregnant which is what should have happened. Gaming the system. It’s not that I don’t feel sorry for them,… Read more »
There is only one small problem applying a Tourniquet. Only a Doctor can remove same!
you must have a plan for any potential mishap that could occur where you are, 911 is a call for backup nothing more people have been taught to rely on goobers you need them bs rather call them to clean up which they dont do either ,visiting a hotel learn best exit have car/truck where accessible boy scout moto is a great one be prepared