Medical Packs Could Help CHP Save Lives

Because Southern California freeway gridlock can produce fatal delays for traffic accident victims, the California Highway Patrol has begun outfitting its motorcycle officers with portable emergency medical equipment.

Since August, at least 14 motorcycle officers assigned to the West Valley congestion-relief team have been carrying emergency medical equipment bags containing latex gloves, bandages, neck support collars, air masks and small oxygen tanks.

The kits are designed to allow officers to stabilize injured motorists until paramedics arrive with more sophisticated lifesaving equipment and transportation to the hospital, officials said Wednesday at a news conference in Woodland Hills.

The program is based on the premise that a motorcycle can get through traffic to an accident faster than an ambulance or firetruck. If successful, the program will be expanded early next year to other units in Los Angeles County, including those in congested urban corridors, CHP Southern Division Chief Mike Brown said.

“We want to save lives wherever we can,” Brown said.

Last year, 3,730 people died in traffic accidents on California freeways and 303,023 were injured. In Los Angeles County, 184 people died and 21,785 were injured.

The West Valley team has been using the kits on a 10-mile stretch of the Ventura Freeway between Lankershim and Sepulveda boulevards. The freeway is one of California’s busiest, carrying about 290,000 cars a day.

CHP officials are looking to expand the program to the interchange of the Santa Ana and Long Beach freeways, and along the San Bernardino Freeway through Baldwin Park and El Monte.

In the last year, the CHP has assigned congestion-relief teams to patrol the crowded Valley corridor--as well as two East Los Angeles corridors--to reduce gridlock by clearing debris and minor accidents.

Officers carry the kits inside the detachable saddle bags mounted on their department-issued BMW motorcycles. The bags allow officers to carry medical equipment to the victim.

CHP officials said officers receive special training and certification under a statewide protocol for emergency medical technicians. With the training, Brown said, officers are able to perform more than basic first aid by immobilizing broken bones, stopping bleeding, restoring breathing and administering oxygen.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells said outfitting CHP patrol officers with the medical equipment is a welcome development.

“Any time we can have trained personnel with proper equipment arriving on the scene prior to the arrival of advanced care of paramedics, it’s always a plus in favor of the victim,” Wells said.