FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Similar to widespread CPR training and the availability of automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) in public facilities, bleeding-control kits offer a way for bystanders to provide life-saving response to a severely bleeding person.
The Springfield Fire Department hopes to have about 60 bleeding-control kits installed next to the more than 60 AEDs installed in City-owned facilities such as the Springfield-Branson National Airport, Springfield-Greene County Park Board facilities, Historic City Hall, the Busch Municipal Building, Municipal Court and others by mid-November. The kits will be available in City work vehicles as well. Training on how to use the kits will be added to the CPR and first-aid training course offered to City staff.
“If someone has access to bleeding-control equipment and knows how to use it, it could make a life-or-death difference while they wait for emergency responders to arrive,” said Fire Chief David Pennington. “Just like CPR training has saved countless lives, training bystanders to help control bleeding has the potential to do the same.”
The kits are provided by the American College of Surgeons’ Stop the Bleed program, which has trained more than 1.5 million people worldwide how to stop bleeding in a severely injured person. The kits include:
- Stop the Bleed instructional booklet
- Tourniquet
- Bleeding control dressing
- Permanent marker
- One pair of protective gloves
- Compression bandage
- Two three-ply masks.
The Fire Department is a Stop the Bleed partner and trained citizens how to use bleeding control equipment such as tourniquets at a community-wide training during National “Stop the Bleed Day” in March 2018.
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For more information, please contact Fire Chief David Pennington at 417-874-2310 or Melissa Haase at 417-536-7648.