Surfers push for tourniquet kits on beaches to stop fatal shark attacks

Surfers are calling for tourniquet kits to become a permanent fixture at popular surfing spots to help save the lives of shark attack victims.

Surfers are set to install tourniquet kits at popular breaks and a trauma doctor will conduct classes on how to stop catastrophic blood loss from maulings after a spate of shark attacks along the NSW coast.

The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has already committed to funding one kit, which will be set up near the river mouth in Ballina on the north coast, the scene of two fatal shark attacks in the past 15 years.

Dr Jon Cohen at a necessarily realistic demonstration of how to use a tourniquet on a shark attack victim. Picture: Supplied

Local surf coach Dave Rutter started campaigning for shark bite first aid kits about 12 months ago.

He co-founded the not-for-profit group Shark Attack Response Inc, and reached out to emergency physician Dr Jon Cohen with an idea to put permanent tourniquet kits on beaches on the north coast, the epicentre of recent attacks. One in five shark attacks recorded in Australia have occurred on the NSW Far North Coast

Similar to angel rings, or lifebuoys, put at dangerous rock-fishing spots, the kits, with tourniquets and basic first aid supplies, would be publicly accessible in case of emergencies.

“If it’s there and only one life gets saved, then it’s worth it,” Mr Rutter said.

Paramedics take shark attack victim Joe Hoffman to John Hunter Hospital. Picture: Peter Lorimer

Dr Cohen was instrumental in creating “shark bite first aid slam packs” for board riders and locals around Esperance in Western Australia.

Following three shark attacks in three years around Esperance, Dr Cohen, a keen surfer, began researching tourniquets as an accessible and easy way of stopping bleeding in 2017.

The doctor, who has worked in emergency departments around the country, sought advice from physicians who had worked in war zones and responded to mass casualty events, like the Paris terrorist attack and Lindt cafe siege.

“In the vast majority of cases of shark bites, the cause of death is blood loss,” he said.

“Picture the human body and its reserves of blood as a five litre tank. Once you lose two litres of that blood, you’re looking up a steep hill to survival.

“If you can put a tourniquet between the heart and where the cut is, you have a greater chance at stopping that blood loss and preventing loss of life.”

Dr Cohen created shark bite first aid slam packs in WA.

Teachers Glenn Hood and Kate Faram (pictured with their children) helped to save Joe Hoffman’s life.

Mr Rutten contacted Dr Cohen after reading about the rollout of the shark bite kits in WA.

The former commercial fisherman is now in the process of fundraising and seeking approval from DPI, Crown Lands and local councils to install boxes that would accommodate permanent kits on the north coast.

While leg ropes had been used as makeshift tourniquets in the past, Dr Cohen said there was a risk of causing serious nerve damage.

A leg rope was used to save the life of surfer Joe Hoffman, who was bitten on the arm in a shark attack at Crescent Head this week.

Glenn Hood and his wife Kate Faram, both teachers from Victoria who were on holiday, came across Mr Hoffman, 25, in the shallows on Monday afternoon.

With their basic and wilderness first aid training kicking in, Mrs Faram called triple-0 while Mr Hood and another surfer tied a leg rope around the surfer’s arm to stop the heavy bleeding.

Stemming the loss of blood is critical in saving shark attack victims.

“The obvious nature of the injury was that it was going to be bleeding significantly and there was room just below his shoulder and above his bicep that was still intact to apply that,” Mr Hood said.

“That was the obvious spot because of the trauma to the rest of the arm.

“I just initially thought ‘we need triple-zero and need him not to bleed to death so we need to stop that bleeding’.

“I think the training definitely has helped me know what to do so quickly.“

The bystanders carried Mr Hoffman up the beach to the carpark where, coincidentally, a team of off-duty doctors, including Newcastle surgeon Dr Cino Bendinelli, were.

Mr Hoffman was flown to the John Hunter Hospital, where he remained this week undergoing surgery with his Sunshine Coast-based father, Bill, at his bedside.