Even in a city like Lexington, which has well-staffed emergency services with very low response times, it takes several minutes for professional responders to be dispatched and arrive at the scene of an accident. In those minutes, uncontrolled severe bleeding can be life-threatening. Hypovolemic shock sets in after a victim loses about 20% of total blood volume. That can occur in less than two minutes if a major artery is severed. Do you know how to solve the problem?
For hands-on first aid training, sign up for an American Red Cross class or join our spring Community Emergency Response Team class.
May is the first ever National Stop the Bleed Month, featuring training courses around the country to teach bleeding control techniques to the general public and empower them with the
skills and knowledge to assist severely bleeding persons. During this month, an additional focus will be directed to May 23, which is the nation’s second annual National Stop the Bleed Day.
In many cases, bleeding is a preventable cause of death. The ability to recognize life-threatening bleeding and the ability to intervene effectively can save a person’s life. Whether a bleeding injury is the result of a home accident or shooting, one person who is on the scene, at the right time, and who has the right skills can make a life or death difference.
Often times the person who is right beside a bleeding victim may be the person who’s most likely to save them. That’s why one of the goals of the Stop the Bleed® initiative is to turn civilians into “immediate responders”—a term that describes the first person at the scene of an injury. This person is rarely a trained medical provider.
“The goal of Stop the Bleed training is simple: to keep the blood inside of the body,” said Lenworth Jacobs, MD, FACS, Medical Director of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Stop the Bleed program, and Chair of the Hartford Consensus. “A person who is seriously injured can bleed to death in five to 10 minutes before professional emergency care arrives. That’s why the course teaches people bleeding-control methods developed by the military and first responders to help them become immediate responders.”
Uncontrolled bleeding injuries can result from natural and manmade disasters and from everyday accidents. If this bleeding is severe, it can kill within minutes, potentially before trained responders can arrive. Providing bystanders with basic tools and information on the simple steps they can take in an emergency situation to stop life-threatening bleeding can save lives. Research has shown that bystanders, with little or no medical training, can become heroic lifesavers.
Similar to the use of CPR or automatic defibrillators, improving public awareness about how to stop severe bleeding and expanding personal and public access to Bleeding Control Kits can be the difference between life and death for an injured person.
The press release said that national preparedness is the shared responsibility of all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors, including individual citizens. The goal of this initiative is to build national resilience by empowering the general public to be aware of the simple steps that can be taken to stop or slow life-threatening bleeding, and to promote the general public’s access to Bleeding Control Kits in public spaces, while they travel, and in the home.
The event included representatives from numerous private sector groups and nonprofit organizations who are working to build awareness, implement and accelerate this initiative.
For more information on these efforts and how you can get involved in the “Stop the Bleed” campaign, please visit dhs.gov/stopthebleed.
To learn more or to get involved in the Stop the Bleed Campaign, contact us at stopthebleed@hq.dhs.gov.
FEMA Training Video: http://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/videos/110132
NAEMT Bleed Control for the injured: http://www.dhs.gov/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.naemt.org%2Feducation%2FB-Con.aspx
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