Stop The Bleed

Students learn how to control arterial bleeding if it is not stopped with direct pressure or pressure dressings and there is a delay in EMS arriving using tourniquets. Discover what you would need to do to prevent the loss of a limb in emergencies like this.

It only takes minutes for someone to bleed to the point that they’re not going to survive, especially if you hit one of the major arteries in your leg or your arm. The material is tailored to the lay responder as recommended by the White House Stop the Bleed Campaign. This campaign is a federal initiative that aims to save lives and build resiliency in our communities, specifically on hemorrhage control.

The Stop The Bleed course takes only an hour to complete. You can take the online interactive course here: https://www.stopthebleed.org/training/online-course/ then schedule for a skills hands on at the facility in person.

A trainer guides the class through two evidence-based methods of bleeding control: placing a tourniquet on an extremity and packing a wound with gauze with both hands. Students learn how to control arterial bleeding if it is not stopped with direct pressure or pressure dressings and there is a delay in EMS arriving using tourniquets. Discover what you would need to do to prevent the loss of a limb in emergencies.

While the course is a byproduct of active shooter scenarios, it could also save lives in other traumatic scenarios such as car wrecks, amputation due to machinery, or punctures to the body. In this course, participants will learn the String of Survival and have the opportunity to practice the approximate demand level for bleeding control. This class will include the use of packing a wound and using a CAT and SWAT Tourniquet, in the event of a life-threatening bleed or accident from amputation, knife or gunshot wound, or natural disaster.  Participants will also receive a Trauma Control Certification. We provide the tourniquet during training to the students.

The “Stop the Bleed” campaign was initiated by a federal interagency workgroup convened by the National Security Council Staff, The White House. The purpose of the campaign is to build national resilience by better preparing the public to save lives by raising awareness of basic actions to stop life-threatening bleeding following everyday emergencies and man-made and natural disasters. Advances made by military medicine and research in hemorrhage control during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have informed the work of this initiative which exemplifies the translation of knowledge back to the homeland to the benefit of the general public.

A person can die within 5-10 minutes due to uncontrolled bleeding, but proper bleeding control methods ”including hand techniques, dressings, and tourniquets” can make all the difference.