Joe Hornaday
While suffering from a gunshot wound, every second counts.
Because of that, members of Decatur County’s local law enforcement spent a few hours on Friday learning how to stay alive in dire circumstances.
Chuck Ford, an EMT-P/PI and Dan O’Donnell, MD, hosted the class at the Decatur County Sheriff’s Department, where 21 law enforcement personnel from the Greensburg Police Department, the New Point Town Marshall and the Sheriff’s Department learned about keeping themselves alive.
“We had a good crowd,” Sheriff Daryl Templeton explained. “Everybody seemed to really think it was great.”
Chief Deputy Darin Lucas said that instructors Ford and O’Donnell really knew their stuff.
“They gave out some good info,” he said.
Ford is an Associate Vice President of Emergency Services for Wishard Hospital, and he oversees their Emergency Medical Services Division and the Wishard Security Department. He is a Reserve Deputy for the DCSD with 24 years at the department. O’Donnell is an Associate Professor Clinical Emergency Medicine in the Academic Department of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine. He is a Deputy Medical Director for the Wishard Emergency Medical Services, Indianapolis and Wayne Township Fire Departments. He is the Medical Director for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police SWAT Team and oversees the Tactical EMS program for IMPD SWAT.
Learning how to stay alive after being hit by a bullet was an important thing to learn, according to Lucas. He noted that EMS crews will not go into gun battles, so the class had a practical purpose. Creating tourniquets, utilizing pressure bandages, dealing with sucking chest wounds, controlling arterial bleeding and learning how to clear airways were all major points of the class. Lucas noted that chest wounds and arterial bleeding can cause death quickly, possibly before paramedics would arrive on the scene to assist.
“We can’t expect them to come in,” Lucas said. “We need that knowledge.”
The demonstrators brought in actual products that the deputies and cops may start carrying, including QuikClot, a chemical for sealing wounds and Black Hawk military tourniquets. The class also learned how to utilize their equipment to make improvised life-saving devices.
Most of the local law enforcement community carries first-aid kits already, Lucas said. But after the demonstration, new equipment may become standard.
“Our goal was not to make paramedics out of our policemen,” Lucas said. “But obviously, I’d do whatever I could to help anybody.”
The idea for the class resulted from Lucas’ friendship with IMPD SWAT member Peter Koe, who survived an intense gun battle in Indianapolis in 2004.
Koe found himself face to face with gunman Kenneth C. Anderson on Indy’s south side. Koe slammed his empty rifle against Anderson and then killed him with his handgun. Anderson was reaching for his pistol at the same time, and had only minutes before emptied his SKS assault rifle. Prior to rushing the suspect, Koe had been hit in the head and in the leg by bullets from Anderson.
Deputy Dave Henderson and Chief Deputy Lucas recalled hearing Koe’s radio transmissions during the shoot-out.
“He was cool as a cucumber,” Lucas said.
Both Henderson and Lucas showed respect for Koe’s actions, and following the class on Friday, local law enforcement is even better prepared to stay alive in mortal situations.
