Whitfield EMA plans free ‘Stop the Bleed’ training on Monday

Published 12:07 am Sunday, October 14, 2018

Is there any doubt fire and EMS services in the United States are on the front line of every mass casualty incident? From a pickup truck striking a crowd of pedestrians in New York City, a mass shooting in Las Vegas or a motor vehicle crash involving a bus full of young hockey players in Canada’s Saskatchewan province, fire and EMS services respond and begin triage, treatment and transport of the viable victims.

But what if, prior to our arrival, average citizens were able to begin a lifesaving assessment on bleeding control, just as they are taught about CPR? You can enter a program designed to do just that: “Stop the Bleed — Save a Life.”

Stop the Bleed training, sponsored at no charge to the public by the Whitfield County Emergency Management Agency, will be at the Dalton-Whitfield County Public Library, 310 Cappes St. in Dalton, on Monday from 11 a.m. to noon.

To register, go online to https://www.surveymon key.com/r/RJGYYMS. The process is quick and easy, with just your name, email address and phone number requested.

The object of the Stop the Bleed program is to train enough citizens across the country who, when presented with a trauma incident whether at work, home or a motor crash or mass casualty, can provide immediate first aid.

Stop the Bleed is an educational program that is the result of a cooperative effort of four highly respected groups: The Hartford Consensus, the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, the Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care and the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians.

This citizen-based initiative focuses on trained individuals acting as immediate responders that can:

• Immediately respond to bleeding.

• Recognize life-threatening bleeding.

• Use appropriate methods to stop the bleeding.

These principles of immediate response instruct the citizen to ensure their own safety and then remember the ABCs of the Stop the Bleed training:

• Alert the professionals by calling 911.

• Bleeding — find the bleeding injury.

• Compress — apply pressure using any or all of three options: direct pressure using a clean cloth and both hands; using a tourniquet; or packing the wound with gauze or clean cloth, filling the wound and then applying direct pressure.

The presentation then discusses these three methods of bleeding control, including time for citizens to practice all three methods on training aids, and ask questions as they practice.

One of the most frequently asked questions during previous training sessions was about the application of a tourniquet. There was a time, not that long ago, when the use of a tourniquet meant risking permanent damage to the patient’s extremity and would almost certainly result in the amputation of that limb. Now, however, with advanced life support in the field and the recognition that such a patient needs to be at a trauma center within the “Golden Hour,” the proper use of a tourniquet doesn’t mean the dire loss of the limb — in fact, in most cases, it’s a preferred method of bleeding control.