Acts of violence have become frequent in our communities. We can never control the actions and choices of other people, but we can save lives and make a positive impact on the future.
Launched in 2015 by the White House, Stop the Bleed is a national awareness campaign intended to encourage bystanders to become trained, equipped, and empowered to help in an emergency before professional help arrives.
Micki Keeling, Andrea Hawk, and the trauma services department at Truman Medical Center (TMC) aim to make Stop the Bleed Training as common as CPR. Upon the discovery that the Kansas City Police Department didn’t have training or trauma kits, the trauma department at TMC received a grant to provide them with resources to better serve the community. The trauma team have made it their mission to support this effort and have trained over 800 police officers in the past year.
“We are going to train some detectives and we always train the graduating class at the academy,” Keeling said. “Those new officers will start out with a trauma kit.”
They have trained the health department, KCMO public school nurses and their security, as well as K9 units and helicopter pilots. After the successful training of first responders, they are now shifting their focus to the public.
“We have been approached by churches and other community groups who want to be prepared,” Keeling said. “If someone is injured on the side of the road from a car accident, or an active shooter is in Kansas City, our community needs to have these trauma kits available.” This kit includes gloves, Quick Clot, gauze, a sharpie, and a combat tourniquet.
“You can apply a tourniquet yourself, that’s how easy they are to use,” Keeling says. “Tourniquet application really is the key.” Stop the Bleed training is about 2 hours long and gives hands on experience on how to apply pressure, pack a wound and apply a tourniquet. The training targets common misconceptions regarding tourniquets. For example, belts make for inefficient tourniquets because they are ineffective in creating the necessary pressure to restrict blood flow, no matter how hard you pull. Another common misconception is that applying a tourniquet equals loss of limb. This is extremely rare and most often directly attributes to the wound itself and not because of the restricted blood flow from tourniquet application. “Don’t be afraid to jump in and help. The tourniquet is a life-over-limb device,” Hawk said. “Studies show that you can go 3-6 hours with the tourniquet on before losing a limb.”
The trauma team is already seeing results from this training. A Kansas City Police Officer with Stop the Bleed training applied a tourniquet to a man who suffered a gunshot wound to the leg. Although a second tourniquet was needed, the patient’s life and leg were saved by Stop the Bleed training. This is another misconception; it may be thought that trauma to an extremity isn’t as dangerous, but it can be fatal.
By further developing these skills and tools for emergency responders, our communities will be better prepared to save lives and face trauma head on. If you would like to take a Stop the Bleed course, please call 816-404-1381 or visit www.bleedingcontrol.org.