The week of May 12 marked both National Police Week and National Hospital Week, and in a show of collaboration between healthcare and law enforcement, the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office received a significant donation aimed at saving lives in emergency situations.
Luke Anderson, emergency preparedness manager for Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) and regional coordinator for Region B Healthcare Coalition, presented 45 Stop the Bleed kits to the sheriff’s office during a ceremony held outside the emergency department of Northeast Georgia Medical Center Habersham.
“It’s a partnership that we want to establish within our 10-county region to make sure that patients have the best opportunity getting treatment, stopping the bleed early on to allow our amazing first responders, law enforcement, fire/EMS to be able to stabilize a patient and get them quickly to our hospital facilities that ultimately will improve their patient outcome,” Anderson said.
The kits were provided by the Region B Healthcare Coalition in partnership with NGHS. Each Stop the Bleed kit is designed to help first responders control severe bleeding in trauma situations. The kits include gloves for responder safety, scissors to cut away clothing, wound-packing material, a tourniquet, and a marker to note the time of tourniquet application.
Habersham County Sheriff Robin Krockum expressed appreciation for the donation.
“We appreciate the partnership and are very grateful for their donation to our deputies in the field,” Krockum said. “Having these kits gives us the ability to stabilize a patient until they can be treated further by medical personnel.”
Anderson emphasized the importance of equipping those who may arrive first on the scene of an emergency.
“It really covers the gamut of the things that really would be first and foremost important to be able to stop that bleed from a patient,” Anderson said. “We really like the idea of canvassing an area, then next year we’ll probably move on to a different county.”
In 2024, the coalition concentrated its efforts on equipping school resource officers with Stop the Bleed kits. This year, the focus shifted to providing kits for every sheriff’s office vehicle in Habersham County, ensuring that each deputy is equipped to respond quickly in emergencies involving significant blood loss.
“That’s really the overall goal is to ensure that we can get these patients so that they have a more favorable outcome by stopping the bleed as early as possible,” Anderson added. “So, to be able to get these in our responders’ hands – those that may be at a situation prior to EMS coming – it’s a win/win not only for our communities but also the patients that we serve.”
