Feb. 25, 2015

By Vesna Brajkovic

Two hundred and forty full and part-time law enforcement officers across Walworth County received new trauma tourniquets.

The tourniquets, devices used to stop severe blood loss from an arm or leg injury, were donated by Enbridge Energy of Superior Wisconsin through their Community Investment Program, which provided a grant to cover the $5,570 cost.

The tourniquets are the same used by the U.S. Armed Forces.

The City of Whitewater and UW-Whitewater Police Departments are two of the law enforcement agencies who received the tourniquets. Others include:

> Village of East Troy

> Town of Geneva

> Village of Genoa City

> City of Lake Geneva

> Village of Mukwonago

> Village of Sharon

> Village of Walworth

> Walworth County Sheriff’s Office

> Village of Fontana Police Department.

“It came out that while a lot of police departments have tourniquets in their first aid kits and squad cars, not many officers have them with them all the time,” Fontana Police Chief Steve Olson told Geneva Lake West News. “I knew a company that had supplied medical equipment in the past, so I contacted the company and asked if they would be interested and they said it sounded like a good idea to them.”

Olson said the goal is for  each officer to have a trauma tourniquet because they have proven to mean the difference between life and death for someone with a severe injury.