During the in-service on Friday, March 15th, teachers and staff became students as they learned to “Stop the Bleed,” a training campaign brought to Americans by the US Department of Homeland Security in 2015 and our partners at UPMC. “Stop the Bleed, a national awareness campaign and call-to-action…, encourage[s] bystanders to become trained, equipped, and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives.”

LCCTC teachers, staff, and administrators were trained in basic hemorrhage-control techniques, such as direct pressure to control bleeding and tourniquet application that greatly improve the chance of survival. LCCTC now has a few kits contain special blood clotting gel, gauze and tourniquets; however, teachers learned that item such as a t-shirt or rag could be used to pack a wound, and any rope-like object such as a computer cord, shoelace, or hoodie cord could be used with a firm object like a ruler could be used as a tourniquet.

A-B-C. It’s more than a simple alphabet when an emergency occurs. Teachers learned the simple ABCs of trauma care.

“A” stands for Alert. Call 911 so that emergency personnel knows of the incident.
“B” stand for Blood. Determine where the blood is coming from and determine if it is a life-threatening injury (ex. Aggressively pumping blood or as much blood as could be contained in about a half can of soda.
“C” stands for Compress. Apply pressure and use a tourniquet if needed to “stop the bleed.” Most important — do NOT remove a tourniquet no matter how much the victim might protest; leave that to the professionals.

“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, therefore it is important to quickly stop the blood loss. Those nearest to someone with life threatening injuries are best positioned to provide first care.”

We’d like to thank LCCTC’s Safety Committee for their continued commitment to our school and community.