NELSON COUNTY, Ky. — In the fight to save lives every emergency is a learning lesson, and for the Nelson County Sheriff's Office (NCSO), that lesson came in November 2022.
"Ever since then, we spoke about what we can do better what we can improve on," NSCO Chief Deputy Brandon Bryan said. "Last year we had an incident at one of our schools. A lot of people went to it. A lot of responders."
During the incident, Landon McCubbins, 8, started choking on a bouncy ball. First responders arrived on the scene Boston School in Boston, KY, before taking Landon to a local hospital and then flying him to Norton Children's. By that time, he'd lost too much oxygen and it was too late.
"I think any responders that go through a tragic incident like [that]—if you're not looking for a way to improve—then that says something," Bryan said. "I think our guys will embrace it."
The solution? A new tool championed by Landon's family called LifeVac.
"This is a tool that we have in our cruisers now for when somebody is choking, that allows us to assist and get the object that lodged out, so they can start breathing again," Bryan said.
Law enforcement says it works like a plunger: when you push down the air escapes, and when you pull, it pulls out what's stuck.
The Sherriff's Office ordered 30 LifeVac bags, which it received Tuesday morning. Of those, 18 are stored in patrol cars while the rest are spread out within the sheriff's office and with detectives.
"The good thing about LifeVac is, if we have to use one, we just contact them and they mail us another one back. So there's no really any reoccurring cost," Bryan said. "I'm really excited about this. The sheriff and I were speaking about it earlier. I'm glad to get them out."
To date, NSCO said it hasn't had to use the kits yet.
In a post to Facebook that's since received thousands of likes and shares, the department announced its new program's name: "Landon's Measure."
The post reads in part, "This is another way for Landon's memory to stay active and for Landon to continue his positive influence over Nelson County."
"It's overwhelming, really ... The community as a whole was really embracing it," Bryan said. "I think it'll be a big program."
Nelson County Sheriff Ramon Pineiroa said several Kentucky first responder agencies have already reached out to NCSO about purchasing their own LifeVac kits.
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