By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
Thanks to a grant from the St. George Medical Clinic, Law Enforcement Officers have two new pieces of equipment to assist them while responding to emergencies. The grant funded the purchase of LifeVac systems and Halligan bars for every Law Enforcement Officer in the County.
Parsons Volunteer Fire Department Chief and Director of OEM Kevin White informed the Tucker County Commission on Wednesday, August 13th, that he was approached by Law Enforcement last month with concerns about items that were needed by officers, but were not able to get into the budget. There were also issues with some Law Enforcement agencies not being County funded, as well due to being City or State.
“There have been some incidents recently that certain devices would have been nice to have because they were ahead of fire, EMS,” White said. “They happened to be closer to the area.”
One such device, White said was called a LifeVac. The device is designed to be placed over the victim’s mouth and through the use of a one way valve, it sucks out and dislodges foreign objects from the throat.
“It is a one way valve that has a mask on it, for pediatric or adult, you place it on the victim’s mouth and you push in and pull out and it will literally suck an object out of their (throat),” White said.
Several factors can weigh into why Law Enforcement could be the first on scene. White said they simply could be closer or Fire and EMS crews could be responding to calls in other areas of the County or returning from calls.
“There are incidents where Law Enforcement are ahead of us by minutes or something, just because they just happen to be in the area,” White said. “The incident is happening on Main Street and our Ambulance just happens to be coming back from DM or our Fire Department is on another call in St. George. They’re closer.”
The St. George Medical Clinic grant was federally mandated that it must go towards Emergency Services, White said. With the grant, White said he was able to obtain not only LifeVac systems for all Law Enforcement in the County, but also forcible entry tools called Halligan bars for each, as well to assist in car extractions or home fire extractions.
“I was able to obtain LifeVacs for all of the Law Enforcement Officers in Tucker County and I was also able to obtain a forcible entry tool or a Halligan Bar so if they come across a car on fire they can get a glass out or a house on fire and the doors are all locked up, they can take that tool, remove the door knob and pry the door open,” White said.
In total, White said it amounted to about $5,000 worth of equipment.
“Its about $5,000 in equipment that every one of our Law Enforcement Officers received, those two pieces of equipment,” White said.
