Westchester Trains the Sight-Impaired With Life-Saving Techniques
News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Westchester County is offering a program that provides life-saving emergency preparedness training to people with visual impairments.
On Monday, the county Department of Emergency Services (DES) presented a new video highlighting the Stop the Bleed pilot program, which in addition to promoting inclusivity, helps equip a population with critical skills that can help others in need.
The program, the first of its kind in Westchester, took place at the DES training facility in Valhalla. It was adapted from training programs offered to professional first responders in low-light situations.
Brett Roberts, a deputy chief for the EMS Division for the DES and a longtime emergency services instructor who oversees the program, said civilians are far more likely to be in a position to respond to an emergency where someone is bleeding heavily than emergency responders.
“We hope that you’ll never need to use this for real, but if you do, we hope that you’re comfortable and confident enough to do that before emergency services arrive,” Roberts said in the video to a class at the training facility.
DES Commissioner Richard Wishnie said it is exciting for the county to have its emergency service instructors be able to offer the training to the community’s civilian population with visual impairments.
“DES has a history going back many years of collaborating with disability service providers and people with lived disability experiences to better prepare our first responders,” Wishnie said. “I am proud to see the success of this pilot program as the latest step forward in these collective and ongoing efforts.”
The program is also being offered in collaboration with Office for People with Disabilities. That office’s director, Evan Latainer, said the program helps the county to continue to break down barriers that individuals with disabilities face on a regular basis.
“This effort addresses a need to offer accessible and inclusive emergency preparedness training, with an emphasis on responding to life-threatening emergency events,” Latainer said. “This pilot will only deepen our resolve towards increased collaboration, inclusivity and accessibility.”
Roberts said what makes Stop the Bleed critical for any member of the community is a person who is seriously injured can sometimes have only minutes or even seconds before a person’s life hangs in the balance.
“This is a fast-acting process,” he said. “That’s way this is critically important that we already have a curriculum that everybody gets the same material and knows how to do it, so when you leave here, we know that you’ll feel confident.”
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/