No one hopes to ever be faced with a situation where someone’s life needs saving, but everyone should be prepared for the chance it could happen.
One of the growing ways to help is with an initiative called Stop the Bleed.
The “Stop the Bleed” program is hoping to teach people that stopping blood loss is just as critical as performing CPR.
Seconds matter in a life or death situation, and uncontrolled bleeding is the number one cause of death in a trauma.
“If someone sustains a serious injury that involves some bleeding from a major artery, they could pass away within 5 minutes so it is critical that these techniques are learned by the public and know what to do and ready to respond and save a life,” said CBRAC Executive Director Hilary Watt.
Unfortunately, we see mass shootings recurring over and over again, and they can happen in any community so the community itself needs to be prepared.
“It has been proven in the Las Vegas shootings and the past night club shootings that the people on the scene who were there first, before the emergency responders, saved lives for knowing what to do, knowing how to properly apply a tourniquet and also how to stop bleeding,” said Watt.
To help improve the odds for our community, the Coastal Bend Regional Advisory Council will host a “Stop the Bleed” event Thursday as part of a nationwide effort to teach hands-on lessons that could save lives.
“We are one of twenty-two regional advisory councils in the state of Texas, and we are all going to be working to provide this education to the public on May 23, which is national “Stop the Bleed” day,” said Watt.
This class will give you the skills and knowledge to provide immediate bleeding control to victims. You will also learn how to stop bleeding, apply a tourniquet, and pack an open wound.
“We have a membership of all 18 hospitals in the Coastal Bend Region and all over our EMS agencies. So our instructors come from CHRISTUS Spohn, Driscoll, Corpus Christi Medical Center, and Halo Flight , all the EMS agencies, paramedics and nurses from those facilities are members here at the CBRAC, and they volunteer to teach these skills to the public,” said Watt.
The Coastal Bend Regional Advisory Council, CBRAC is partnered with Bleeding Control.org to teach the Stop the Bleed training to the citizens of the Coastal Bend.
The free training event will be offered on May 23rd at the Del Mar College West Campus, Public Safety Dome, 4101 Old Brownsville Road.
Classes will be held at 8am, 10am, 12pm and 2pm.
One must call 361-929-5401 to sign up for one of the four class times.
If you are interested or know anyone that is interested in learning the simple steps to keep an injured person alive until appropriate medical care is available, you can also visit https://www.cbrac.org/
