Penn Highlands Healthcare Teams Up With EMS Services To Provide “Stop The Bleed” Classes To The Dubois Fire Department

Penn Highlands DuBois, AmServ DuSan, and DuBois EMS recently teamed up to provide Stop the Bleed^® classes to the DuBois Volunteer Fire Department. A Stop the Bleed class was conducted on October 12th at the Fourth Ward Fire Company where 29 volunteer firefighters attended. Dr. William Hoff, MD, Trauma Program Medical Director and Trauma/General Surgeon at Penn Highlands Healthcare, led the class.

Stop the Bleed arose from research on hemorrhage control in the military but was accelerated forward in the after-event summary from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, CT.

In the Stop the Bleed class, participants were educated on what to do if a life-threatening bleed were to occur during an incident. Firefighters were educated on recognizing life-threatening hemorrhage and how to effectively control the bleeding. During the class, the participants learned the quick actions to stop the bleed: (1) Apply pressure with gloved hands and how to do it properly; (2) How to properly pack the wound and press; and (3) How to apply a tourniquet properly.

“We are happy to provide each fire station who participated within the department a Stop the Bleed kit, which will help them if an incident occurs,” said Vicki Feldman, EMS Outreach and Injury Prevention Coordinator with Penn Highlands Trauma Services. “Each Stop the Bleed kit includes: an instructional booklet on bleeding control, a tourniquet, a quick-clot hemostatic bleeding control dressing, a mini sharpie marker, one pair of protective gloves, a compression bandage, and two (2) three-ply masks.” Penn Highlands DuBois Trauma Service donated one Stop the Bleed kit for each fire truck in the DuBois Volunteer Fire Department.

If you are interested in learning more about Stop the Bleed classes and available times, please contact Vicki Feldman, BSN, RN, PHRN, at [email protected].

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