Stop the Bleed – Introduction | First Aid BLS & Emergency Management Solutions

In the wake of a traumatic event, uncontrolled bleeding is one of the most frequent causes of death. A person can bleed to death in less than five minutes, which makes it difficult for emergency medical responders to arrive fast enough to control bleeding and save lives. Injury results from a wide variety of causes, including accidents or intentional harm, and in a wide variety of locations, such as your home or workplace. It is important that as many people as possible survive their injuries if they sustain trauma.

In addition to training law enforcement officers in bleeding control and instantly providing them with equipment to do so, emergency medical service personnel also need quicker access to the wounded. However, another key element calls for using civilian bystanders as immediate responders who perform external bleeding control for victims at the point of wounding before the arrival of professional responders.

Uncontrolled bleeding is the number one cause of preventable death from trauma. The greater the number of people who know how to control bleeding in an injured patient, the greater the chances of surviving that injury. You can help save a life by knowing how to stop bleeding if someone, including yourself, is injured.

In this series of articles, you will learn the various ways to control bleeding, whether you only have your two hands to use or whether you have a full trauma first aid kit available to you.

PRIMARY PRINCIPLES OF TRAUMA CARE RESPONSE

■ Ensure you own safety

■ The ABCs of Bleeding

■ A – Alert – Call EMS (1122 for All Punjab or EMS in other parts of Pakistan)

■ B – Bleeding – find the bleeding injury

■ C – Compress – apply pressure to stop the bleeding by:

1. Covering the wound with a clean cloth and applying pressure by pushing directly on it with both hands, OR

2. Using a tourniquet, OR

3. Packing (stuffing) the wound with gauze or a clean cloth and then applying pressure with both hands.

We will go over each of these points in our coming articles.

The only thing more tragic than a death from bleeding…
IS A DEATH THAT COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED.

So get trained and make the difference between life and death. Mark your calendar today for our next training session: