The Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) through its Safe Chicago program has installed 1,004 Safe Chicago Bleeding Control Kits across the city adding to the public safety of residents, city employees and visitors. The lifesaving kits are being installed in tour boats, water taxis, along the Riverwalk, the Chicago Architecture Center, sports arenas, tourist destinations, City or Chicago owned  and leased buildings, among other locations throughout the city.

 

“With over a thousand Safe Chicago kits installed throughout the city, OEMC Emergency Managers have trained more than 4,000 city employees and partners on how to utilize the kits before first responders arrive in an emergency,” said Jose Tirado, Executive Director of OEMC. “I'm proud to have the Chicago Riverwalk, the Harbor Safety Committee and the Chicago Architecture Center  join our growing list of locations that have installed Safe Chicago Bleeding Control Kits to provide the tools and training in order to help save lives."

 

Life-threatening bleeding emergencies can be the result of falls, auto-accidents, penetrating injuries, gunshot wounds, and more. Knowing how to control bleeding from a serious injury can be the difference between life and death.

 

In advance of the summer season, the OEMC worked with the Chicago Harbor Safety Committee to install Safe Chicago Bleeding Control Kits and Individual First Aid Kits (IFAK) in large passenger vessels and harbor stations. Along the Riverwalk, additional kits were added at various locations to build upon the existing wall kits. Since installing kits in 2021, Riverwalk security has utilized them to aid victims of a car accident and a racer who fell during the Chicago Marathon.

 

“The Chicago Harbor Safety Committee is pleased to have partnered with the City of Chicago and OEMC in an effort to increase the emergency response capability by outfitting over 60 Commercial Passenger vessels with Safe Chicago kits,” said Mike McElroy, President, Chicago Harbor Safety Committee. Our water taxis and tour vessels carry over 6 million tourists annually in an environment where time is of the essence for a bleeding victim. These kits and the training provided by OEMC will allow marine crews the capability of treating wounds that traditional first aid kits simply could not serve.“

 

The Chicago Architecture Center is one of many cultural institutions in the city to have installed kits in their building and staff have been trained to utilize them in an emergency.

 

“The Chicago Architecture Center is proud to partner with OEMC to train our entire staff to Stop the Bleed and to provide bleed control kits in our center. It’s important that we all know how to take care of each other, especially in stressful and high-risk situations, and OEMC’s shared resources have equipped us to do just that, should the need arise,” Eleanor Gorski, CEO & President, Chicago Architecture Center.

 

Safe Chicago Bleeding Control Kits include a tourniquet, wound packing gauze, a space blanket, trauma shears, an instructional manual, gloves, and a marker. Since 2021, OEMC has installed kits in all City of Chicago owned or leased buildings/facilities, museums, sports arenas, entertainment venues, tourist destinations, and include the following:

 

Additionally, OEMC has teamed up with city departments Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP), Department of Finance and Chicago Animal Care and Control to put Individual First Aid Kits (IFAK) and Narcan in their field operation vehicles. This includes training in STOP THE BLEED®, Narcan administration and CPR.

 

OEMC’s Safe Chicago initiative has helped make bleeding control kits and training widely accessible throughout the City of Chicago. Safe Chicago was launched in 2019 by OEMC in partnership with the Chicago Fire Department, Chicago Police Department, the Department of Fleet and Facility Management, and the American College of Surgeons ACS STOP THE BLEED® program.

 

“We commend the City of Chicago for their efforts to expand the Stop the Bleed program. With summer just around the corner – a time when injuries, unfortunately, spike – Chicago has empowered the public to save a life by making Stop the Bleed kits widely available,” said Patricia L. Turner, MD, MBA, FACS, Executive Director & CEO of the American College of Surgeons. “Chicago sets an example for other cities around the country by demonstrating that the right resources in the right places can make a life-or-death difference.”

 

STOP THE BLEED® was launched in October 2015 by the White House, with a call to action to begin training more people to become immediate responders during a bleeding emergency until professional help arrives. The ACS STOP THE BLEED® program is operated under a licensing agreement granted by the Department of Defense.

 

More information is available at Chicago.gov/OEMC, and the STOP THE BLEED® website has details on how to get trained.