Trip Report
STOP THE BLEED® - EvergreenHealth Medical Center
Critical hands-on first aid training for Mountaineers activity leaders. "Stop The Bleed is as important as CPR training", according to Barb Jensen RN - manager of the EvergreenHealth trauma unit.
Brad Peacock
- Tue, Oct 3, 2023
- STOP THE BLEED® - EvergreenHealth Medical Center
- EvergreenHealth Medical Center
- First Aid
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
Participants from 4 Mountaineers branches and the Board of Directors assembled at EvergreenHealth Medical Center for formalized hands-on First Aid training known as Stop The Bleed. We had leaders from many club activities: Naturalist, Urban Walks, Hiking, Backpacking, Trail Running, Canyoning, Scrambling, Climbing, Photography, Sea Kayaking, Cross-country Skiing, Snowshoeing, and Stewardship.
The first part of the training involved a presentation and discussion on the importance of stopping bleeding. Key facts include:
- Bleeding is leading cause of preventable death after injury.
- Someone can bleed to death in as little as 3 minutes....before help arrives.
- Bystanders will be the first providers of lifesaving care.
- In an emergency, remember ABC
- A: Alert - Call 911.
- B: Bleeding - find the bleeding injury.
- C: Compress - apply pressure to stop the bleed.
Aaron Leingang, Shyam Vijayaraghavan and Rachel Shafer
The second part of the training involved hands-on practice in packing wounds and applying tourniquets.
- When packing a deep wound with uncontrolled bleeding, use sterile gauze or, if not available, any textile at your disposal.
- Start from bottom of wound and pack until full.
- Compress wound with hands. Get comfortable because you may be there a while.
- If bleeding stops, do not stop compression until help arrives.
- When compression does not stop the bleed, apply a tourniquet.
- Apply tourniquet 2-3 inches above the wound, away from any bony area or joint.
- Tighten until bleeding stops. More than likely will be painful for victim.
- Don't remove until help arrives.
- In one published study, the non-tourniquet group had 6x greater chance of death over those who recieved a tourniquet.
The Hartford Consensus are specific recommendations and a call to action to maxmimize the chance that no one dies from uncontrolled bleeding. Among other things, a recommendation was made to add EMS to SWAT teams for immediate medical assistance in active shooter events. One goal of the Hartford Consensus is to empower the public to provide emergency care. Hence, the American College of Surgeons created the Stop The Bleed Program.
An enormous thank you from The Mountaineers to Barb Jensen and her team!
