Fruitland Volunteer Fire Co. receives $10,000 for “go bags”
FRUITLAND, Md. – Perdue Farms and the city of Fruitland donating more than $10,000 to the Fruitland Volunteer Fire Company. The money will support mobile resources to help treat victims injured in a mass shooting.
The active shooter response bags have several materials inside to stop severe bleeding. Fruitland Police and EMS say that these active shooter response bags, or “go bags” for short, can help save lives in the event of an active shooter.
Fruitland Police Officer First Class Jonathan Marton-Rollins says, “Anytime there is an active shooter event, our primary focus as police officers is to secure that scene to make sure that no more casualties occur.”
One way police and EMS have been limiting fatalities during an active shooter scenario is with the “go bags.” They are now available to EMS workers at the Fruitland Volunteer Fire Company.
EMS supervisor Jarod Cooper says these bags can mean the difference between life and death. “They are finding out with mass shootings because it takes so long for first responders to get to the patients, the patients are bleeding out and dying,” he said. “Where we can save people and get them out of the hot zone, and get them help as quickly as possible as they clear the building.”
Cooper says that they have been working closely with the Fruitland Police Department to make sure they’re prepared in the event of a mass shooting. That means responding quickly to assist the injured to limit fatalities, as police must first make sure the scene is secured and the shooter is stopped before they can attend to the wounded.
“Unfortunately, that means that we are primarily passing injured parties and limited medical interventions are being applied at that time,” said Cooper. “The fact that these bags are backpacks allowed the officers to equip them hands free as they move through the environment.”
EMS and Police have also been recently trained and equipped with Canine Response kits to treat a canine officer injured in the field.
“EMS workers, historically, have not been seen as veterinarians,” said Cooper. “Its kind of a, stay in your lane, don’t treat dogs, but we know that dogs are very anatomically similar in a lot of ways to humans.”
Both kits have medical materials to stop bleeding like bandages, chest patches and tourniquets.
“We have a lot of bleeding interventions equipped in those bags and if we cannot actually get to a person, we actually have the ability to throw bleeding supply objects at them, so they can apply a tourniquet themselves with us talking through it,” said Cooper.
