By Ryan Spoehr
SLN STAFF
Weeks after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that claimed the lives of 17 people, the Palmyra Public Safety Department received training to teach life-saving measures to community members that could be used in similar situations.
Al Davies, a registered nurse Aurora Medical Center in Summit, gave a training session called Stop the Bleed to officers at the March 7 Palmyra Public Safety meeting. Now they can train others on the same live-saving information.
Stop the Bleed started as a result of the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012.
“The whole idea was basically building on what is currently in place for traumatic bleeding,” Davies said. “We have a pretty good backbone. EMS providers are being trained. Military personnel are being trained, and police, et cetera.
“From Sandy Hook moving forward, they basically found that it educates the providers, and unfortunately we’ve seen in these events that with the use of appropriate equipment, we could have saved a relatively large portion of lives.”
The training is set up to train people nationwide how to stop life-threatening bleeding. The training can be used for massive cuts causing severe bleeding, including gunshot wounds.
However, it can be used for more. The training goes over when and how to pack deep wounds and explains what is traumatic and life-threatening bleeding. It goes over how to hold and apply pressure with material to stop bleeding and why certain materials, like paper towels, do not work.
In addition to mass shootings, this type of training can be used for severe injuries, such as work-related and home injuries, motor vehicle crashes and bombings.
“It is (necessary training). It’s stuff that people see happen,” Public Safety Director James Small said.
For more on Stop the Bleed, pick up a copy of the March 16 edition of The Enterprise of Palmyra and Eagle.
