Stop the bleed, save a life

By DR. LACEY CAVANAUGH | Region 5 Medical Director, LDH Office of Public Health

You are driving home and a motor vehicle crash happens in front of your very eyes. Wanting to help, you pull over and immediately recognize a life-threatening bleeding situation. What do you do?

Or, maybe it is not a crash. Maybe it is a hunting accident, a power tool injury, a sporting event or a shooting. An injured person may only have minutes to live if bleeding is not controlled immediately. Uncontrolled bleeding is actually the number one cause of death after a mass casualty event.

Knowing what to do in this situation, before emergency medical services are available, can save lives.

The Stop the Bleed program is part of a nationwide movement to help laypeople possibly save a life if ever faced with life-threatening bleeding. Stop the Bleed was developed by the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma. The program teaches people the basic steps to stop bleeding, which include calling 911, ensuring personal safety, looking for life-threatening bleeding, then compressing and controlling bleeding using pressure, packing and/or a tourniquet. These skills are intended for field use until the injured person can be transported to a medical facility.

Hands-on learning

The Region 5 Office of Public Health, in collaboration with several community partners, held two Stop the Bleed trainings for the LSU residents, faculty and staff at the Lake Charles Memorial Hospital Family Medicine Residency

Program on August 30 and September 20.

Ted Colligan with the Louisiana Emergency Response Network was the lead instructor and several staff from other local partner organizations assisted with training the participants. The training consisted of a presentation and discussion period, followed by a hands-on practice session of newly learned skills.

The intent of this class was to train future Louisiana physicians to be Stop the Bleed trainers, so that they can then assist in training the rest of the community. This was a unique audience of mostly physicians and a wonderful example of cross-sector collaboration between partners to achieve a goal. Forty-three participants completed these two trainings and nine of them signed up to be instructors.

Representing OPH Region 5 were Public Health Emergency Response Coordinator Mike Parent, Hospital Nurse Coordinator Janet Rider, and APRN Nadine Blake. Jessica Leboeuf with the Calcasieu Parish Medical Reserve Corps, Lake Charles Memorial Hospital System RNs Rezalynn Vincent and Crystal Rollins, and Dr. Danette Null, associate professor with the LSU Family Medicine Residency Program all took part in leading two three-hour classes. We want to thank all of our partners and instructors, in addition to Lezlie Fletcher with the LSU Family Medicine Residency Program, for their assistance in making this training a reality.

For more information, to find a class near you or to request training at your facility, click here.