Danbury First Lady Gifts K9 Teams With First Aid Kits

DANBURY, CT — Liz Cavo, wife of Danbury mayor Joe Cavo, knows more than a little bit about having the right backup, on hand. As a former trauma nurse in the Emergency Room at Waterbury Hospital, her preparation and first aid skills have saved lives.

Now as First Lady of Danbury, Cavo has put some of those old instincts and expertise to work for Dirk, Cael and Gunner, the city's K9 police officers.

"It's always important to have backup care for our officers," Cavo said. "And people forget that K9s are officers also," Cavo told Patch.

After consulting with the K9 officers' handlers, Cavo and her husband donated emergency kits, curated by Liz herself, to the three teams.

Each of the officers who handle the K9s are now equipped with TacMed K9 Handler Trauma Kits, supplemented with oxygen masks, and Narcan. The kits include a muzzle, tourniquet, burn kit, an endotracheal tube, and decompression needles to address torsion and bloat.

The Narcan is key, Cavo said. Administered through a nasal inhaler, it is used to reverse an opioid overdose, including those due to fentanyl. The K9s are often the first officers in at a drug bust, and can be exposed to the highly toxic fentanyl, which is becoming a common ingredient in the illegal street drugs. It's become a real danger for the dope-sniffing dogs.

The anti-opioid in the kit is a human dose, and administered to the dog in the same way it would be delivered to a human, with an inhaler. In fact, much of the gear in the kit does double-duty as a first aid kit for human officers.

The other upgrade is the kit's portability. Cavo stressed that the K9 teams have always had the highest level of medical care available to them, but that was often back in the police cruiser while the dog was out making the collar in the woods. Cavo's kits are compact, about 8 by 8 by 2-1/2 inches, and strap effortlessly to either the K9 or his handler, who are now more than a hand's reach from first aid.

While the Cavos are happy to provide these kits to the K9s, their biggest hope is that they never have to use them. "There are times when we need a little more assurance that things are taken care of for all of our officers," Liz Cavo said.