A NEW red box on the side of Emersons Green Village Hall could prove to be a lifesaver.
The bleed control kit has been attached to the larger green defibrillator box which was already in place at the hall, as part of a joint venture between Avon & Somerset Police, NHS England South West and defibrillator manufacturer HeartSafe.
The Voice reported last month that the kit was due to be installed at the village hall, Pucklechurch Community Centre and 142 other sites across the police force area.
Within days of the announcement, the new box was installed.
The kits include dressings and tourniquets to help manage bleeding, as well as surgical gloves, scissors and a colour-coded instruction guide on what to use depending on the type of injury being treated.
The initiative to install them is part of police work around knife crime, but the kits can be used in any incident where a person is suffering from major bleeding, whatever the cause.
The idea is for people to use them in the time between a 999 call and the arrival of an ambulance, in any life-threatening emergency involving major bleeding.
Police knife crime lead Chief Inspector Mike Vass, said: “We employ a number of different tactics to deal with knife crime and prevent it at the source but in the unfortunate event that a person is seriously injured, we hope that these kits will go some way to preventing tragic loss of life.”
You can find out more about bleed kits and their locations at www.heartsafe.org.uk.