Posted on March 26, 2018
Special to the News-Times
The El Dorado Kiwanis Club, El Dorado Fire Department and ProMed Ambulance have partnered together to roll out the “Stop the Bleed” campaign in Union County.
Stop the Bleed is a national awareness campaign and a call to action. Stop the Bleed is intended to cultivate grassroots efforts that encourage bystanders to become trained, equipped and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives.
“Having seen the need for this training right here in our community, we cannot be more excited to have Kiwanis join us in this community project,” said Ken Kelley, ProMed CEO. “Having access to the training equipment will greatly enhance our ability to reach more people.”
The Stop the Bleed initiative began as a collaborative effort headed up by the White House that included a number of Federal agencies, including the NHTSA Office of EMS, as well as national organizations and corporations.
As the program has unfolded, local ambulance services and other health care providers have assessed local needs and have identified avenues for public training. Both ProMed Ambulance and El Dorado Fire Department have added Stop the Bleed training to their list of available community outreach programs.
No matter how rapid the arrival of professional emergency responders, bystanders will always be first on the scene. A person who is bleeding can die from blood loss within five minutes, so quickly stopping the bleeding is critical.
Those nearest to someone with life-threatening injuries are best positioned to provide immediate care if they are equipped with the appropriate training and resources. Those rendering care are now referred to as the “Immediate Responders” and they help bolster the public safety efforts of the “First Responders.”
“We saw the heroic efforts of the citizen ‘immediate responders’ during the horrific shooting in Las Vegas on October 1 last year, and we know countless lives were saved,” said Kelley. “While we are trained and equipped to handle these calls every day, we know that often the first critical minutes until we arrive on scene can make all the difference. Following the recommendation of the national Stop the Bleed instructions, early intervention can save lives.”
Prior to National Stop the Bleed Day, designated on March 31, ProMed, EFD and El Dorado Kiwanis will host a community forum and public training at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow in the South Arkansas Community College Library Auditorium. The community is invited to attend and learn more about Stop the Bleed.
El Dorado Kiwanis Club has provided funding for Stop the Bleed training kits. The kits feature realistic training models and equipment for both wound packing and tourniquet application.
They will be placed with EFD and ProMed for use throughout the community. The support and partnership with the Kiwanis Club has enabled the program to move forward much sooner than expected.
For more information on Stop the Bleed, visit www.dhs.gov/stopthebleed or www.bleedingcontrol.org.