May 20, 2021, is National Stop the Bleed Day. Due to the rising number of mass shootings in the United States and countries around the world, public safety attention has been focused on providing the tools to help common citizens stop a life-threatening bleed before emergency services arrive.
Millions of Stop the Bleed kits are being distributed and placed in the hands of people who rarely get first aid training, emergency medical training, or understand how to recognize and stop massive arterial bleeding that can cause death in 3 to 4 minutes.
To that end, Rescue Essentials, H&H Medical Corp., and TrueClot by Luna have teamed up with First Care Provider, a non-profit group that provides on-site stop the bleed education, to create a 16-minute video, “STOP THE BLEED – Do you know what’s in your kit?”
The video is a free public safety information tool anyone can download to share with students, colleagues, friends and family. EMS, fire service and first aid instructors can download the video and use it as part of their hands-on training in their communities. The video aims to introduce the concept of intervening in an emergency for non-medical community members.
Often, witnesses to an emergency want to help, but they don’t know what to do, according to FCP research. The video explains what’s in a first aid kit and how to use it in an emergency, to do just that.
Chief Rob Wylie, chief strategic officer, First Care Provider (FCP), noted, “We want to empower them to be the help until help arrives,” Wylie said. He hopes the video demystifies the power of medicine, and encourages lay people to understand that anyone, with a little training and some gear, can make a difference.
“After 30 years in the fire service, of which I spent 25 years as a tactical medic, I have seen first-hand how devastating a traumatic injury can be, and how helpless people feel while waiting for help,” Wylie stressed. “This video was a great chance to share life-saving information with non-medical people and hopefully empower them to help themselves and those around them during an emergency.”
Wylie offers the following message to share with community members; “After 30-plus years in emergency service, I can say one thing with absolute certainty: Hope is not a plan! Learn these skills, make a difference in your life, your family and friends’ life. Make your community safer.”
Visit www.firstcareprovider.org to learn how to become a Stop the Bleed instructor and watch the video here.
