A deadly shooting at a rural Texas church had a lot of people thinking about what they could do to help if caught up in a mass-casualty situation. A nationwide initiative, Stop the Bleed, is teaching Americans to potentially save lives.
The program was created by the United States government in 2014, after a follow-up investigation suggested some of the Sandy Hook shooting victims might have had a chance at life if they had access to basic bleeding control.
EMS Training Chief Chad Curry told EverythingLubbock.com that it only takes three minutes for a major artery to bleed out.
“An ambulance cannot be at your house in three minutes,” Curry said.
But with proper training, the minutes could turn to hours.
“The literature suggests you have six hours once this [tourniquet] device is on you, for you to safely get it off and you would be okay,” Curry said.
Lubbock Police officers regularly carry a tourniquet. Training Sergeant Chad Wurm said anyone could learn to use it.
“About four years ago, me and another officer used that training on another officer to good effect,” Wurm said, “Knife wounds, bullets, anything we could face on the street…it’s a good option to have on our person, sometimes it takes a while for EMS to get on the scene.”
Curry will teach schools, churches, businesses, and anyone else who will listen to stop the bleed.
“Anything can happen at anytime. Could be a car wreck, building collapse…all the way to mass shootings, mass bombings,” Curry said, “It happens all the time. So this is something to help prevent you and your family from loss of life and to try to help your fellow human.”
