VALDOSTA — Twelve lifesaving bleeding control kits were delivered to Valwood School after 22 school staff were trained on how to “Stop the Bleed.”
Gary Glover, lower school dean, said, “The training was very informative and I feel confident that I can be helpful should an emergency situation arise. It’s also very comforting to have the bleeding control kits available in every building and staff that has been trained to use them.”
Valwood School faculty and staff were trained by Ashley Tye, Lowndes County Emergency Management director and fire chief, and Lauren Bewley, emergency preparedness specialist with the Georgia Department of Public Health.
Earlier this year, the Georgia Trauma Commission along with the Georgia Trauma Foundation, the Georgia Society of the American College of Surgeons and the Georgia Committee on Trauma collaboratively launched the nationwide “Stop the Bleed” campaign in Georgia that puts knowledge gained by first responders and the military into the hands of the public to help save lives by stopping uncontrolled bleeding in emergency situations, according to school officials.
The first phase of the campaign includes the school-response program, which is specifically designed to train and equip school staff on how to control bleeding with the tools provided. Bleeding control kits contain a tourniquet, wound-packing materials and gloves to prevent further exposure.
Research has shown that bystanders, with little or no medical training, can become heroic lifesavers. Similar to the use of CPR or automatic defibrillators, improving public awareness about how to stop severe bleeding can be the difference between life and death for an injured person, school officials said.
“Stop the Bleed” is an emergency-preparedness initiative funded by the South Health District and the Region L Healthcare Coalition to private schools within the Region L Coalition counties with a commitment to provide emergency bleeding-control kits for a health-care crisis in which traumatic injuries may need to be stabilized by available school personnel while waiting for emergency services; and implement a training program to enable school personnel to render immediate, potentially life-saving medical aid to injured students or co-workers while they await the arrival of professional responders.
For more information on the “Stop the Bleed” campaign, visit www.stopthebleedgeorgia.org.