WORKFORCE
CONFIDENCE, COMPETENCE, RESULTS Back in his office at Fort Detrick, Mary- land, Davis pulls a bright orange tourniquet from his desk drawer and spins the plastic windlass around with his fingers, tightening the cordage for a brief second before releasing the tension. He does this once, twice, three times. He understands the apprehension in the face of traumatic bleeding, he said, but he also knows that empowerment is the best tool to fight those fears.
“Nobody’s mentally prepared for a trauma scene,” he said. “Everybody always thinks,
‘this is overwhelming,’ and ‘this is above my capacity’ … but I can assure you it is not.”
Granted, while the steps for aiding a trauma victim are (ideally, at least) rela- tively basic, there’s a clear and dramatic difference between dealing with massive bleeding cases in a clinical versus a real- world environment. Even Davis admits,
“Trauma is just a totally different animal in the field.”
Still, the tenets of the “Stop the Bleed” campaign are designed to simplify the process and mitigate the knowledge gap between medical professionals and those active bystanders willing to save a life. Tat process begins with locating the site of bleeding on the victim, then apply- ing immediate and firm pressure before applying a tourniquet about two to three inches above the wound to help stop the bleeding—making sure to then twist the tourniquet rod tightly before securing it with both the built-in clip and the Velcro safety strap (depending on your tourni- quet model). Finally, if the wound is still bleeding, pack it with gauze. “Use more than you think you need,” said Davis. Tis last part is of special importance; emer- gency room doctors note that while it’s best to use clean gauze to pack a wound, anything absorbent will work, even if it’s dirty. As the saying goes in the ER, “We can treat a live patient with an infection, but we can’t treat a dead one.”
THE WORD IS OUT
This Oct. 5, 2017, article in The New York Times, published four days after the Las Vegas shooting that killed 58 people and left more than 850 wounded, is an example of the reach that “Stop the Bleed” has attained, from the United States to Canada to Europe. (SOURCE: The New York Times)
Indeed, it’s the simplicity of that message that has resonated so deeply. Stories of real people using those techniques to save lives are submitted to CCCRP weekly from across the country. Te campaign even took center stage recently through a series of public service announcements featuring the cast of the CBS television network’s medical drama “Code Black.” Campaign partner the American College of Surgeons
CREATING FIRST RESPONDERS
An instructor with “Stop the Bleed” licensee Blue Spear Solutions LLC teaches bleeding control techniques in July to students from Marjorie Stoneman Doug- las High School in Parkland, Florida. In February 2018, a mass shooting at the school killed 17 people and injured another 17. An effort is underway in the Florida state legislature to mandate the “Stop the Bleed” campaign in every school in the state. (Photo courtesy of Gregory Tony, Blue Spear Solutions LLC)
engineered appearances from actors Rob Lowe and Marcia Gay Harden as a part of that effort. Abston, with offices based out of tiny Rossville, Georgia, was inter- viewed by NBC “Nightly News” late last year about her work with the campaign.
“Tey sent a camera crew all the way up here from Atlanta because they were so interested,” she said.
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