Oceanside Police Officers' Association

Amazing Parents Niko and Bri Cortez celebrated the birth of their son Cruz Jaxon Cortez on September 15, 2020. There were some difficulties during the pregnancy and little Cruz had to spend some time in the the NICU after his birth. He is still there fighting every day with the love and support of his parents and family by his side.

Recent testing discovered Cruz has Muscular Dystrophy. This fundraiser is to provide the financial support for the Cortez family, so they can focus on Cruz while amazing friends, family and kind strangers ease the financial burden of the medical bills now and in the immediate future. 

More information about Oceanside Police Officers' Association: Every year the Oceanside Police Officers' Association donates money and time to benefit numerous charities, groups and organizations in Oceanside and throughout San Diego County. The foundation is also dedicated to serving and participating in our community. Donations fund Police Memorials, Survivor Funds, Medical Emergencies, Scholarships, Youth programs, Community outreach events, K9 units and much more.

I am a firefighter  / paramedic with the Oceanside Fire Department.  I am also a highly trained tactical SWAT medic for our Oceanside Police Department.  Over the years I have had the opportunity to cross train with our Brothers and Sisters in blue and have noticed a large defect with the equipment they are issued.  That is, they are NOT issued a personal tourniquet (TQ).  Without going in to deep here, there is a significant amount of data that supports all law enforcement officers carrying their own personal use tourniquet.  Some of the data is:

-67% reduction in simple extremity wound deaths  (bleeding out from a single point of injury to arm or leg)
-In the military, over 1000 lives were saved in 2008 from simple tourniquet use (many more since)
-Lowest incidence of preventable deaths ever recorded in American history from single point extremity bleeding
-On the civilian side, bleeding out from an extremity within the first hour after injury occurred 60% of the time in 2005/06.  In 2012/13 that is down to 37%. 
-The Combat Application Tourniquet (the one being purchased by this campaign) has an almost 100% success rate when applied correctly
 
I have spent the last several years training all of OPD on how to use a Combat Application Tourniquet and the indications for its use, but at the end of each class, it is incumbent upon the officer to procure their own TQ.  I would like to start a simple corner stone effort in their community and show how important it is to have this life saving device and work with their administration to make the tourniquet a part of their issued equipment in the future.