FISHERS — A team at Ascension St. Vincent is hosting a “stop the bleed” training at Fishers High School.
People can bleed to death within just three to five minutes of being injured. making what people do in a crisis, crucial to saving lives.
This “stop the bleed” program was launched in 2014 after the Sandy Hook tragedy.
The Ascension St. Vincent Level 1 Trauma Center has trained over a thousand Hoosiers so far, ranging from state legislators, farmers, school administrators and high school students.
If last week’s mass shooting at a FedEx facility showed us anything, it’s that shootings can happen anywhere, said Kristin Wagner, Ascension St. Vincent trauma outreach coordinator. Being able to stop someone from bleeding to death before paramedics arrive is, sadly, becoming increasingly important.
“Unfortunately in this day and age, we know that injuries can happen anywhere,” Wagner said. “But as far as mass shootings or large gatherings, you’re going to find that in schools. Especially a school this size.”
It’s a sad reminder of what happened at Noblesville West Middle School just three years ago.
“Information helps you to react better,” Brent Freed, a math teacher at Fishers High School, said. “So hopefully by getting this information, I have a better opportunity to help save someone’s life if I’m ever in that situation.”
These teachers and staff at Fishers High School have volunteered to undergo “stop the bleed” training.
“Here today we’re teaching some different skills regarding wound packing, how to pack and compress these life-threatening wounds, as well as placing a tourniquet,” Wagner said.
They’re getting them familiar with trauma aid equipment and giving these educators hands-on practice, so hopefully, it can become muscle memory, if they ever need to jump in and act.
“You just always want to be ready,” Freed said. “You always want to be prepared for any type of situation. It’s really unfortunate that we have to live in a world that is like this. But I work with kids. And I have a responsibility every single day to make sure that they have a safe environment for them at school.”
In many urban and rural settings, EMS response times can be longer than three-five minutes that it could take someone to bleed out. As an ER nurse, Kristin Wagner says just knowing what steps to take, could save a life.
“We know a lot of these victims wouldn’t even make it to us if it’s not for somebody jumping in. So we just can’t stress the importance enough,” Wagner said.
