You will find the initial version of this document Are You Prepared? on this website: http://www.icsave.org
Trauma and violence affect all of us. They are the leading causes of life lost, exceeding cancer and heart disease combined. Despite significant medical advancements and public health efforts, injuries remain the greatest silent epidemic of modern society. Motivated by multiple tragedies that have occurred throughout Arizona in recent years, men and women from your community convened to form the non-profit organization, Integrated Community Solutions to Active Violence Events (ICSAVE). An organization created by and for YOU, its volunteer membership understands that proactive education saves lives. ICSAVE exists to improve outcomes and survivability from incidents ranging in severity from occupational and recreational injuries to manmade or natural mass casualty events. The resulting injuries from these events can present with severe bleeding which, if left unattended, can result in death. By providing everyone in our communities with the skills and basic tools to stop uncontrolled bleeding, lives can be saved. All of us need basic training in Bleeding Control and other lifesaving principles so we can provide immediate, frontline aid until first responders can take over care of an injured person. Due to many situations, there may be a delay between the time of injury and the time a first responder is on the scene. Without community intervention in these circumstances, preventable deaths will occur. Are you prepared? Our organization was founded on the core belief that every citizen, when provided with appropriate knowledge, skills, and abilities, can protect his or her communities from preventable injury and death. Contact us and remember, ICSAVE belongs to you!
Trajarvis McMurry tried to fashion a makeshift tourniquet from his friend's shirt, but he was too weak to tighten it enough to stop the bleeding coming from his own arm. McMurry was riding in a truck that rolled over in the predawn darkness in June near Houghton Road on Interstate 10. Bystanders stopped to help. The 23-year-old U.S. Army veteran asked if anyone had a tourniquet. No one did. Moments later, two U.S. Border Patrol agents happened on the chaotic scene. Agent Joseph Tukovits came upon McMurry, who was lying on the ground, still bleeding. Tukovits applied a tourniquet to McMurry's upper right arm. Veteran agent Adam Alessi tightened it. The bleeding subsided, and McMurry was transported to the Level 1 trauma center at Banner University Medical Center – Tucson, where he was met by the trauma team. Although the tourniquet has been used since antiquity, especially in military settings, it fell out of favor because of concerns over complications such as tissue damage, limb loss and ineffective hemorrhagic control, says Dr. Andrew Tang, associate professor of surgery and trauma medical director at Banner University Medical Center – Tucson. But lately, because of improved technology and better training, the tourniquet is making a comeback — and making the difference between life and death.