Ordinary citizens learn to help in a mass casualty event at Inova’s “Stop the Bleed” workshops

The Other First Responders

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, the Hartford Consensus was formed to evaluate emergency response processes and recommend changes in how quickly victims are treated. Recommendations call on those present at the time of an event to render care to stop life-threatening blood loss until help from police and first responders can arrive. To help teach members of the community proper bleeding control techniques, Inova Trauma Center, the only level 1 trauma center in Northern Virginia, is holding free, educational workshops throughout the Northern Virginia and Washington, DC, areas.

So far the workshops have been filled to capacity, and the response from community members has been very positive.

The workshops are part of the national “Stop the Bleed” campaign, which was launched in October 2015 by the White House and is overseen by the Department of Homeland Security. Stop the Bleed was initiated by national health committees such as the American College of Surgeons and is supported by the White House. The campaign aims to teach non-medical citizens proper bleeding control techniques after a man-made or natural disaster, or an emergency event. The education includes how to apply dressings and tourniquets to stop life-threatening bleeding.

How Inova is teaching citizens to stop the bleed

During the hour-long workshop, attendees learn how to use tourniquets, pack wounds and apply pressure bandages. Recent workshops have been held at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, the WMATA Alexandria Metrorail Yard, and at a local Boy Scout and Boy Scout leader troop meeting. Inova Trauma Center is also working to obtain grants that will enable it to provide individuals, large organizations and local schools with five to eight bleeding control kits. As Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is the fifth-largest school district in the nation, Inova Trauma Center’s goal is to provide education to all FCPS teachers and staff. The center encourages everyone in the community to learn these skills.

Take action

For more information about the Stop the Bleed campaign, visit www.dhs.gov/stopthebleed. To register or find a workshop, call 703-776-2274 or follow the Inova Trauma Center on Twitter @InovaFFXTrauma1.