A free, hourlong course offered by the University of Toledo Medical Center’s trauma program can help prepare bystanders to jump in and stabilize someone who has been gravely injured until professional help arrives.
Stop the Bleed teaches individuals how to properly use pressure, dressings and tourniquets to control life-threatening bleeding in an emergency.
Ebonee Johnson, lead registered nurse at the Comprehensive Care Center, watches as senior nursing student Jacob Bennett packs a wound to control bleeding during the Stop the Bleed event.
“Pre-hospital care is so important in the outcome of trauma patients,” said Angela Castillo, a registered nurse and the injury prevention coordinator for UTMC’s trauma program. “Someone with a serious bleed can die in three to five minutes without intervention. Having someone who has been trained in this can be the difference between life and death.”
Earlier this week, Castillo led a Stop the Bleed training session for more than 100 fourth-year nursing students in Dr. Karen Vargas’ population health class.
“We talk about disaster preparedness in this course. We talk about triage and how you’d take care of a patient if you’re first on the scene,” said Vargas, an instructor in the College of Nursing. “This is a great opportunity for my students to gain hands-on training of an important skill to have.”
Stop the Bleed is a national initiative led by the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma to bring basic bleeding control training to the public.
Participants are taught how to use their hands to apply pressure, how to pack a wound and how to correctly apply a tourniquet — and when each technique is most appropriate.
Senior nursing students Abi Ovacek, left, watches as Elyse Bell practices the proper way to apply a tourniquet during the Stop the Bleed event.
The course is available to both campus and community groups. Castillo said more than 1,400 people completed the training through UTMC last year.
“This is something anyone can do. The training is the same, whether you’re a nursing student or work in accounting,” she said. “It’s teaching simple concepts, but it prepares someone to take life-saving actions if they find themselves at the scene of an emergency.”
Campus and community groups can arrange for a free training session by contacting Castillo at 419.383.6156 or angela.castillo@utoledo.edu.
UTMC also offers walk-in Stop the Bleed courses the first Monday of each month at 1 p.m. in the Medical Pavilion Room 040. The course is free and is open to anyone.
The next course will be offered Monday, April 7.
