‘Life-saving’ bleed kits installed at key spots in the city
MEDICAL BOXES COULD HELP STABBING OR CRASH VICTIMS
MEDICAL kits which can save the lives of stab victims or those who have been involved in serious accidents have been placed at key locations across Leicester.
The equipment “could mean the difference between life and death”, Leicester City Council has said.
Eight medical boxes containing protective gloves, gauze and dressings - which can be used to maintain pressure over a wound and stop bleeding - have been installed in neighbourhoods around the city. They are designed to stop severe blood loss, including when someone has been stabbed, while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
The city council has invested £5,200 in the boxes as part of its Knife Crime and Serious Violence Strategy 2021-23. Training on how to use the boxes will also be made available for community groups, but in an emergency, anyone calling 999 who is near an emergency kit would be directed to it by operators and talked through what they need to do.
The boxes can be found at Cossington Street Sports Centre in Belgrave, the Grove Community Hub in Braunstone, E2 Training Centre in Beaumont Leys, New Parks library, Aylestone leisure centre, Eyres Monsell Community Centre, St Matthew’s Centre and Medway Community Primary School in Highfields.
The council said the locations were chosen as the communities showed they were determined to work with the council, police and other partners to tackle the problem.
Belgrave, Braunstone, Beaumont Leys, New Parks, Eyres Monsell, Highfields and St Matthew’s, as well as Saffron Lane and the city centre, were identified in the council’s 2021-23 strategy as the areas with the highest levels of knife crime.
Assistant city mayor for neighbourhoods, Councillor Kirk Master, said: “Although in major UK cities it takes an ambulance an average of only seven minutes to get to the scene of a major emergency, an adult can bleed to death from a catastrophic injury in just four minutes. These cabinets can be vital in bridging this gap.
“At the heart of our knife crime and serious violence strategy is making communities safer by listening to and working with our communities. This project is doing both, by bringing vital life-saving kit on to our streets with support for communities through training.
“We hope we never have to use them – and we’re working very hard on preventative strategies so we don’t have to. But should the worst happen, one of these boxes could mean the difference between life and death.”
The council worked on the project with voluntary community groups, organisations and families affected by knife crime, including the Daniel Baird Foundation, set up in memory of a 26-year-old fatally stabbed in Birmingham in 2017, and the AAA Foundation was set up in memory of 20-yearold Antoin Akpom, who was stabbed to death in Leicester in 2013.
Antoin’s family has been closely involved in the community conversations around knife crime.
The council said says the kits can also be used to save lives in the event of car accidents, workrelated injuries or other incidents.