PRESS RELEASE
By: Jeffrey Bunch
Operations and Support Manager
Nassau County School District
Trauma One at UF Health Jacksonville is part of a nationwide initiative called Stop the Bleed, which aims to teach bleeding control techniques to the public and decrease preventable deaths during mass casualty events. It was developed after the Sandy Hook school massacre. The trauma surgeons determined that a lot of the children’s deaths could have been prevented by teaching lay persons simple ways to control bleeding. It is the same class that they now teach all Paramedics in school and UF has extended it out to communities.
The Nassau County School Board Maintenance employees recently took part in this course which only takes an hour to complete. Three trainers guided 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, spending time practicing on anatomical models with stab and gunshot injuries. Jeffrey Bunch Operations Manager at the Nassau County School Board saw this class as helping the Employees both at work and out in their normal daily lives. “It was well received by the employees today, hopefully they will never have to use it but they are trained now to react and assist”
James Montgomery, EMT-P Outreach Coordinator for Trauma One explains that this knowledge can be used in any traumatic situation — if a guy outside cutting tree limbs or building something using a saw cuts his arm, in motor vehicle crashes or out hunting and gets injured, they now have the knowledge to control the bleeding until the arrival of emergency responders.
Andreu Powell, Director of Intervention, Prevention & Safety Services for the school district, arranged for the Department of Health, Nassau to train other representatives from the various schools. According to Eugenia Ngo-Seidel, MD, MPH, Director, DOH Nassau, “Minutes are critical, so projects like Stop the Bleed can save lives. This project focuses on promoting community resiliency through first responder and citizen training on hemorrhage control. Training law enforcement, school health personnel and selected citizens with Stop the Bleed techniques, even before EMS arrives, can help injured persons have a better chance of survival.”
If you or your organization would like to host a 60-minute Stop the Bleed training session, contact James Montgomery at 244.8515 or [email protected].