October/November 2015 Digital Edition

Police officers receive life-saving training
from the University of Louisville to help
accident and crime victims
by Steve bittenbender
in a first-of-its-kind event, 16 members
of the louisville metro Police
Department received training to
help them become better first responders
to victims they must tend
to at accidents and crime scenes.
The training on handling arterial
bleeds came from the University of
louisville’s Willed body Program.
in the fresh tissue laboratory in the
school’s Department of anatomical
Sciences and Neurobiology, the
lmPD officers participated in a
day-long session earlier this month
to learn how to properly apply a
tourniquet and other techniques designed
to keep people from bleeding
to death.
The officers worked on cadavers
provided by the school. lmPD officer
Joe Heitzman, who helped organize
the class, said it was the first
time many of his fellow officers got
to work with a cadaver as part of
their training.
“The officers who were in the class
had a great learning experience and
a lot of them told me that the training
was the first time they actually
got to see how trauma affects our
bodies and how to use a tourniquet
correctly to save a life,” Heitzman
said in a press release. “This was an
opportunity that not many officers
will ever get a chance at and they
were excited about the lab.”
law enforcement officers often
arrive on the scene of an accident or
a crime before emergency medical
personnel. Depending on the location
and the severity of a victim’s arterial
bleed, the victim could die in
just a few minutes unless the loss of
blood is staunched.
getting this kind of training is
unique for law enforcement officers,
and those who provided the training
hope it proves its value.
“We are teaching police officers to
save lives. No other form of training
allows for the realism that is provided
by utilizing a tissue lab,” said
brandon Heming, an emergency
medical technician.
in the past, the university has
provided cadavers to military personnel
stationed at Fort Knox
as part of their
20
training, but this was the first time
Uofl had partnered with louisville
police, according to spokeswoman
betty coffman.
Providing such training fits with
the mission of the Willed body Program,
said Nicole Herring, Ph. D.,
the program’s director.
“One of our primary goals for the
Willed body Program is not only
to provide a resource for education
for our medical and dental students,
but for health-care professionals in
our community as well,” Herring
said.
With 1,211 officers, the louisville
metro Police Department is the nation’s
34th largest force, according to
information provided by governing
magazine. The department, which
formed in 2003 after the merger
of louisville and Jefferson county
governments is responsible for patrolling
nearly 400 square miles of
the Kentucky’s largest city.
While this was the first time Uofl
has provided training to lmPD officers,
coffman said the school hopes
it can continue to do so.
However, there
has not been a date
set up for a second session.