Rural Carrier makes lifesaving tourniquet

Rural Carrier Associate Katherine Duvall recently put her emergency medical training to good use at the Pulaski Post Office in Tennessee.

A driver had accidentally sliced his radial artery with a box cutter, which had slipped while he attempted to open a package while stopped at a red light near the Post Office.

The man pulled into the Post Office’s parking lot and sought help from Duvall and Assistant Rural Carrier Steven Carrico, who were loading packages into a postal vehicle.

When the driver got out of his vehicle, Carrico saw that the man was bleeding heavily. Carrico alerted Duvall, who removed her shirt to make a tourniquet above the man’s elbow.

Duvall asked Carrico to call 911 and bring gauze and other medical supplies from the Post Office’s first-aid kit. Duvall kept the man calm and helped emergency responders when they arrived.

The man was taken to a field near the Post Office, where a helicopter picked him up and flew him to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

“Thanks to Ms. Duvall’s quick thinking, the customer was able to receive the care he needed in order to survive,” said Pulaski Postmaster Justin Ray. “Without the heroism of Ms. Duvall, there is a good chance the customer would not be here.”