Stop The Bleed is a national awareness campaign and a call to action. Stop The Bleed is intended to cultivate grassroots efforts that encourage bystanders to become trained, equipped and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives. No matter how rapid the arrival of professional emergency responders, bystanders will always be first on the scene.
A person who is bleeding can die from blood loss within five minutes, therefore it is important to quickly stop the blood loss. Those nearest to someone with life-threatening injuries are best positioned to provide first care.
The Sheridan Public Library is offering a free class at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 24 at the library, located at 103 W. 1st St., Sheridan. It is open to any community member who would like to learn more. It will be taught by Jim Ginder from the Hamilton County Health Department. It is a training program recommended for individuals as well as those representing public groups. Churches, social groups, public committees and other such open groups would do well to have at least one person available and trained for this type of tragic event should it ever occur.
Knowing how to pack wounds, apply pressure and use tourniquets is important no matter the nature of the injury. But with the advent of mass shootings over the past several years and the fact that many of the active shooters are using high-velocity munitions, it is imperative that first responders learn how to prevent the catastrophic hemorrhaging of the wounds that are associated with these high velocity projectiles. Mass shootings are still relatively rare but it seems like there are more and more of them almost on a weekly basis, and that is of concern even though most wounds involving significant bleeding are of non-shooting causes.
Sheridan Public Library Director Steve Martin said, “Our staff had this training a few months ago just because the library is a gathering place for people, and where there are people there exists the very rare potential for someone with a grudge to settle a score in a lethal fashion. As a library staff, we need to be prepared, and this training is part of that preparation. We have also had Active Shooter training. I never thought I would have to train my staff on these subjects but things are different now than they were 15 or 20 years ago. And even if we never have to face an active shooter situation, Stop The Bleed is just good, practical first aid training.”
This one-hour class is free of charge, but you will have to register because space is limited. Click here to register. This class is available to anyone regardless of where you live in the surrounding area.