A team of trained instructors from the Washington County Health Department is doing its part to educate as many people in the community as possible to reduce life-threatening bleeding.
The “Stop the Bleed” program is nationally recognized to provide hands-on education and practice at no cost to prepare anyone to help when someone is bleeding out as a result of an injury or trauma.
“As one of the nation’s largest public health campaigns, the goal of ‘Stop the Bleed’ is to save lives by training people across the country how to get involved, take action and stop traumatic bleeding,” said Jared Blakeslee, director of the community health outreach, prevention and promotion division at the Washington County Health Department.
Community organizations and businesses interested in having “Stop the Bleed” training on-site at their campus or facility may reach out to Blakeslee at 240-313-3410 or wash.health@maryland.gov. The health department team will bring all necessary equipment and supplies, as well as the appropriate number of trained instructors from its staff to accommodate the size of the class. The ideal class size is 25-30 participants, with the class lasting less than one hour.
Studies show that the average time it takes for a person to bleed out from a traumatic injury is 3-5 minutes. With approximately 40 percent of trauma-related deaths in the world due to bleeding or its consequences, hemorrhage is the most common cause of preventable death in trauma.
Partners in “Stop the Bleed” range from the local to federal level and are acknowledged on the program’s website at stopthebleedproject.org.
