Cincinnati businessman urges us to prepare for the unthinkable

Following the murder of three innocent victims in Cincinnati, a company based in the city has urged businesses, schools, event venues and transport hubs to review their emergency preparedness procedures.

The incident at Fifth Third was the 15th mass shooting in the city in the last five years. This has accounted for 13 fatalities with 77 wounded. 

TyTek Medical, a manufacturer of compact, pre-hospital emergency medical supplies, in Blue Ash has developed PTENSYS, a system that helps quickly administer life-saving care to trauma victims in a mass casualty incident.

Company President, Chris Tyler said: “We do a lot of work in Europe and have witnessed first-hand the emerging threats in terms of deliberate attacks, But, with events yesterday, right here on our doorstep, we all need to reconsider how we can plan to save lives in the very worst of circumstances.”"

The company has developed customisable cabinets, equipped with key medical equipment stored in kits that can be used to address the immediate life-threatening trauma injuries, including haemorrhaging, airway compromise, pneumothorax, burns and hypothermia.

The kits can be moved quickly to any safe point and each one folds out to provide innovative side-by-side working and their unique extendable floodlights will help visibility in smoky and badly lit environments.

“Recent medical research has revealed that there is a Platinum ten-minute period after a mass casualty incident, if you can react effectively in this time you will be able to save lives,” explained Chris.

“The problem is that many sites don’t have the necessary medical supplies, or as we have seen in the past, the procedures in place to deal with a scenario of this magnitude.”

“I gather the perpetrator at Fifth Third had 200 rounds of ammunition and if it wasn’t for the speed, bravery and fortitude of our amazing emergency services the situation, awful as it was, could have been extremely grave. Sadly, this isn’t always the case, particularly in a lockdown situation such as Las Vegas when EMS teams are denied immediate access to the scene.”

He continued: “We can no longer be complacent. PTENSYS meets emergency preparedness challenges and tackles them. Each cabinet stores everything you would need to keep people alive after a MCI.

“We have an all-round trauma kit and bleeding control stations. We carry out a full situation analysis and vulnerability assessment to ensure they have everything they need.”

PTENSYS was developed in partnership with the renowned Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Cincinnati.

Chris, who started the business in 2001 continued: “The idea for PTENSYS came from the work we do in conflict zones. It made sense to tailor it to non-military environments where civilians are experiencing military style injuries.

“We don’t just provide the cabinet and the supplies, most of which need only the most basic of first aid training to apply. We work with you to identify the most suitable system and arrange on-site training and ongoing.”

He concluded: “In an ideal world you would never have to use PTENSYS, but sadly the statistics tell a different story. Ultimately, we offer peace of mind, duty of care and a risk mitigation strategy. Knowing that should a life-threatening incident occur, everything is available to ensure the platinum ten minutes in pre-hospital trauma care is maximized until the emergency services are allowed to gain access to the situation.”

For more information call Chris Tyler on 513-247-2002 or visit www.tytekmedical.com/products