Mass Shootings Spur Calls For Tourniquet Training

Courthouse News reports:

Proponents who say Stop the Bleed tenets should be taught right up there with techniques such as the Heimlich maneuver cite statistics such as from the Coalition for National Trauma Research that say physical injury is the leading cause of death for people ages 1 to 46. Lenworth Jacobs, director of the Stop the Bleed program at the American College of Surgeons and surgery professor at the University of Connecticut, spent four decades as a trauma surgeon at Hartford Hospital.

The public, Jacobs said, tends to be scared of bleeding. Many people’s mindset “is to be horrified and then call for help, and kind of observe or watch. And we need to change that: if you see something, do something,” Jacobs said. Jacobs said the goal of the Stop the Bleed training is to empower people not to shrink back but to use their hands, perhaps holding gauze or just a shirt, to press hard on the source of bleeding. And if available and appropriate for the situation, use a tourniquet.

Read the full article.