SEAL PRO Stopped an Arterial Bleed at an Indoor Training Event

I’ve been a medic for 35+ years: NYC EMS, NYFD, City of Miami, Miami-Dade County, and federal emergency operations. I’ve used nearly every clotting agent on the market. I’m also a Stop the Bleed instructor.

About four months ago, I was at an indoor training event. Someone was showing off a brand-new custom knife, a velociraptor claw design, extremely sharp. Within minutes it had sliced through a bystander’s hand. The knife passed through the thumb, along the inside edge of the pointer finger, and deep into the tissue between the two.

We attempted to place a tourniquet high and tight, but the blood flow was too fast to get it seated properly on the first try. A second tourniquet was added. Something else had to be done immediately to slow the flow.

I had a medical kit on my range bag with a SEAL PRO attached to the outside. It reminded me the can was inside. I grabbed it along with pressure bandages.

I had never used it before. For a moment I hesitated. I didn’t know exactly how it would work, how much to use, or whether it would hold. Thirty-five years of experience and those thoughts still ran through my head. I had a name-brand backup ready if needed.

The SEAL PRO, used with direct pressure, materially slowed what appeared to be a combination of a deep vein bleed and an arterial nick, down to a manageable trickle within seconds. The tourniquet became a precautionary step rather than a necessity.

The patient remained conscious and alert the entire time. He arrived at the trauma center in Miami awake and stable.

I have never seen a clotting agent work that fast, that effectively, in a real situation. This product belongs in every trauma kit, every ambulance, every range bag, and every first responder kit in the field.

If I hadn’t known it was there, things could have gone differently.