BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Mass shootings can happen anywhere and anytime — your office, a church, a nightclub, even your child’s school. As horrible as these mass shootings have been, trauma surgeons say people died who didn’t need to. Here’s more on a toolkit surgeons are hoping will save lives.
This is not anatomy class. It’s a course in saving lives.
High school teacher, Christie Morman, says, “We had the opportunity to learn some preventative measures in case anything were to happen in the school.”
Since the Sandy Hook mass shooting in 2012, more than 300 school shootings have followed where some shooting victims have bled out and died before first responders got to them. That’s why the American College of Surgeons has launched the ‘Stop the Bleed’ program. It tells anyone what to do in an emergency before first responders can arrive.
Dale Davis, RN, University of Alabama at Birmingham, stated, “If the patient can get to the trauma center alive, we can keep them alive most of the time.”
The ‘Stop the Bleed’ kit has a tourniquet, gauze, gloves and instructions to control bleeding. The American College of Surgeons wants these kits distributed throughout public places, such as arenas, offices and schools, just like AED’s.
Virginia Strickland, MD, University of Alabama at Birmingham, shared, “Just that knowledge is a little bit of power in a situation where you are powerless.”
Morman is trained in using the kit.
Morman says, “Now I feel comfortable and I wouldn’t be as worried or nervous or looking for somebody else to help. I feel like I would be able to actually assess the situation and take care of whatever needed to be done” to save a life.
The ‘Stop the Bleed’ kits are not only for shooting events, but can also be used in any situation where there’s massive bleeding that needs to be controlled, such as a car accident or large cuts.
Contributors to this news report include: Milvionne Chery, Producer; Roque Correa, Editor and Videographer.