Cheap Tourniquets Cost Lives.
Ask yourself: if you had one minute left to live, would you want the only device that can save your life to be a genuine product, or a Chinese knock off?
A Tourniquet (TQ) works by applying circumferential pressure around a limb, which in turn causes the tissue to put pressure onto an artery, closing that artery off. Arteries carry pressurized blood away from the heart, and when severed, will nearly ALWAYS cause a life threatening bleed.
Simply put, arterial bleeding can kill in under a minute if it's not occluded in that timeframe. A TQ can be used to occlude (close) the arteries in any external limb, while compressed gauze can be used to fill a wound, putting pressure right against the source of bleeding. Hemostatic Gauze works the same way as compressed gauze, with the addition of natural blood clot forming hemostatic agents built into the gauze itself.
North American Rescue is the inventor of the CAT Tourniquet. This is the style of TQ that is most commonly cloned by Chinese manufacturers and sold on eBay, amazon etc.
The issue with any TQ that isn't a genuine approved TQ, is that they aren't made to the same standards. That means they literally fall apart when you try to use them. The buckles break under the tension required to stop an arterial bleed, the webbing itself can be pulled apart by hand, and the windlass which is the final crucial piece that tightens the TQ enough to stop the bleeding will usually just snap in half.
Cheap fake TQs that are identified once they reach units in Ukraine are thrown out. LITERALLY THROWN OUT. We have seen pictures and videos of thousands of dollars worth of fake TQs being destroyed. The soldiers know better and don't trust their lives to them, the donated money is wasted and they don’t receive the help that was intended.
Usually these shipments of counterfeit medical devices come from folks who just honestly didn't know and are simply trying to get the most amount of help to Ukraine that they can. They don't realize that there are counterfeit products out there, and believe that buying 4x as many tourniquets for the same price will be 4x more helpful. In reality, it's not only unhelpful, it consumes valuable resources validating the shipments received and processing the counterfeit products. Resources that could otherwise be spent saving lives.
Many charities have unfortunately fallen victim to this trap.
There's a lot of ways to prevent buying fakes, #1 is avoid eBay and Amazon. Go direct to an approved dealer, who can likely give you a better price than what is listed online anyways. Almost every medical supply company I know that has genuine trauma products is willing to help out charities sending supplies to Ukraine.
There's several styles a manufacturer for TQs that are really good. The Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care (COTCCC) is the world's foremost authority on trauma medical products. If it's not listed, or manufactured by the listed manufacturer, by COTCCC for the areas they approve devices for, it has no place in a combat zone, and no place in your IFAK.
COTCCC RECOMMENDED DEVICES & ADJUNCTS
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Helping Charities
The Bravery Foundation is a Canadian based charity helping procure quality medical supplies for American and Canadian Volunteers fighting in Ukraine.
We're honoured to help provide some of these medical supplies, along with participate in their "Ask A Military Expert" program, to assist other charities in choosing quality products from genuine suppliers that are actually needed by soldiers and medics on the front line.
If you're looking to send medical supplies to Ukraine, please don't hesitate to reach out to The Bravery Foundation, or ourselves directly. If we can't supply what we feel you need to send, we will point you toward a business that can.
Want to know if your Tourniquet(s) are genuine? Feel free to send us an email with pictures of your TQs, and I can gladly audit them and provide references for how we identify genuine vs fake.
