This is our Story…and we’re sticking with it!

Taken from an article written by Michael Reighling for the City of Tempe

Innovation happens once in a blue moon, and not often enough to make the kind of difference truly needed in the life-saving arena; but when it does come, a huge feather needs to be placed in the organizational hat that inspired the advancement.

In this case, it’s the Tempe CERT Program taking a bow for inspiring some of its’ own to leap into new and exciting ways of apply life-saving first aid.

                In January of 2008, Stan Villalobos and about 55 of his friends began the 20 hours of Tempe CERT training offered by the City of Tempe which culminated in the drill that certified them to be CERTs. After the drill, Villalobos felt that he and many other CERTs at the drill did not adequately prepare themselves by obtaining enough of the right first aid supplies for the rigorous exercise before them. Although encouraged by their trainers to do so, most CERTs just didn’t get around to it and so they depended largely on the supplies offered by the city. Although this was nice, it didn’t allow the TEMPE CERT to take ownership of his own “stash” of supplies, and because of this, confidence wasn’t as high as it could have been.

                Shortly thereafter, Villalobos approached his friend and inventor, Mike Ritchey , a fellow CERT and one-time EMT, and asked him if he had any ideas as to how they could help CERTs better supply themselves for not only drills, but for that moment in time when everything they were taught would be required of them “right now” by someone in need. So after many discussions and “time in the workshop” they formed TraumaKwik Solutions to meet those needs.

                 “We hope to offer anyone needing to be prepared to handle life's traumatic situations, a way to get  training as well as products to help in the triage process”, said Villalobos, referring to their new company.

                “Having been an EMT a number of years ago,” said Ritchey, ”I know that if any CERT is ever called upon to use their training, actually having someone’s life in their hands, nerves will definitely come into play. We believe our new ABS-1 TraumaKit with its new tools will offer a certain amount of confidence and organization, allowing their training to kick in without fumbling around looking for this and that. This also holds true for anyone who is NOT a CERT. In fact, we started our company in an effort to bring tools to CERTs, but now feel an expanded responsibility to reach everyone. We’ve designed some very specialized training for businesses that offer a condensed form of CERT Disaster and Medical Operations for their employees. Most of what we do now is driven by society’s need to be safe, and to meet any natural or man-made disaster with swift treatment in an effort to bridge the gap between the time of incident, and the arrival of professionals.

“That is so true,” added Villalobos, “During time of great emergency, professional help may be delayed for a variety of reasons, and we are looking to turn co-workers into responsible Citizen Responders capable of saving lives! For a business, meeting ever-tightening OSHA requirements, and getting insurance points and discounts is just an added bonus to creating a safer environment for their employees. Let’s face it; things are getting dangerous out there…we all need to be prepared for every life-altering event.”

                So just what are the new and innovative products and ideas offered by TraumaKwik Solutions? How about a new tool that can apply 75 inches of gauze around a wound in about 5 seconds? Or a light-weight ShockProp that can handle even the heaviest of legs for the treatment of Shock...or the 4 sizes of the new KwikBand which will stop an arterial bleed in 5-10 seconds!  Even the bag was deliberately engineered to lay completely open on the ground, allowing quick access to all of its contents during triage and treatment. I have seen this kit in action at several of our events here in Tempe, and I am definitely a believer.

These and many other tools come with a hands-on one hour class that teaches how to treat ‘The Three Killers” (Airway, Bleeding, Shock) and do Chest Only CPR - (CCR). Other class modules including CPR are also on their menu. 

            Has the CERT Program become the new “Mother of Invention”? Time will tell, but we are off to a great start with the guys from TraumaKwik!

Added Note: We added Michael Reichling (He wrote the above article) as our Training Director. He trained us as CERTs and later as CERT Instructors. He has become a dear friend and his credentials are through the roof…as noted on our “About us” page.