“Stop the Bleed” Lifesaving Training Available in Solano County
Time is precious in an emergency. An injured or wounded person who is bleeding can die from blood loss within a few minutes. No matter how fast a medical professional arrives on scene, it’s bystanders who may be called on to make a lifesaving difference.
Stop the Bleed is a nationwide federal campaign to train and empower individuals to act quickly and save lives. The campaign is a result of work done by a collaborative committee which included representation from the Department of Homeland Security, American College of Surgeons, and the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians just to name a few. Recognizing the need to address the numbers of patients whose lives have been lost in recent tragic mass casualty incidents as a result of blood loss, the committee developed and published recommendations known as the Hartford Consensus. These recommendations have led to initiating the nationwide Stop the Bleed campaign.
Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Medical Center, Solano county’s designated Level II trauma center, has partnered with Solano County EMS Agency and Cascade Training Centers to offer the “Stop the Bleed” program to the community. The program includes an educational course titled, “Bleeding Control for the Injured” or “BCon” which is roughly 2 hours in length and contains both lecture and hands-on training. The purpose is to equip bystanders with the information they need in order to help victims of a mass casualty incident, a car crash, a natural disaster or an industrial accident. Often victims die from bleeding that may have been stopped before emergency personnel are able to reach the victim.
“Injuries that result in uncontrolled bleeding lead to death without advanced definitive treatment. Definitive treatment can only happen once they get to a trauma center. The layperson can improve outcomes and save lives in these patients by stopping or slowing the bleeding down with a few simple techniques. This training will educate people in the community on how to identify a life threatening hemorrhage and render the appropriate first aid until additional medical help arrives on scene,” said Paula Green, RN, Trauma Educator and Injury Prevention and Outreach Coordinator for Kaiser Permanente Vacaville.
Green said the goal is to work collaboratively with multiple agencies in order to train as many people in the community as possible. It is a priority to have trained laypeople within the workplace, schools and highly populated areas as well as other high-profile areas. Those who go through the training will learn how to assemble a Stop the Bleed emergency kit, learn how to identify life-threatening bleeding and receive step-by-step training on how to stop bleeding with dressings, compression, and tourniquets.
Free training will be offered to the community
If you are interested in bringing the Stop the Bleed program to your organization, please contact the Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Medical Center Trauma Prevention Program at KP-Vacaville-Injury-Prevention@kp.org
