Staying alive until the ambulance arrives

WILLIAMSBURG — Expanding its focus, the Iowa County Health Department took its Stop the Bleed class from schools to the community.

The Health Department invited farmers and those who work with them to learn how to save a life Friday in Williamsburg.

“Lori Miller approached us about doing Stop the Bleed for farmers,” said Lori Sheeler, director of the health department. Farmers are at a higher risk of injury than most people because of the heavy machinery they use, the large animals they work with and the rural areas they work in.

An ambulance could take 20 minutes to get to them, Sheeler said.

Stop the Bleed is not first aid, said Sheeler. It’s one step further.

“So far we’ve focused on schools,” said Sheeler. “That was our big push last year.”

Stop the Bleed programs started because of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in 2012, said Miller. The Iowa County Health Department has provided Stop the Bleed kits to every Iowa County classroom and gave out kits to those in attendance Friday.

The kits come vacuum sealed so they stay clean. Each kit contains compressed gauze, paramedic sheers, emergency bandages, gloves and a tourniquet.

The kits provided Friday were funded by Compass Memorial Healthcare, Dr. George Miller and the First Lutheran Church in Conroy, said Sheeler.

The skills Sheeler and Abbie Schaffner, the health department’s clinical nurse manager, taught Friday in Williamsburg, can be used by anyone, said Sheeler.

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The number one cause of death after an accident is bleeding, Sheeler said. Stopping bleeding can save a life.

The first step is recognizing a life-threatening bleed. Then there are three ways to stop it – pressure, packing and a tourniquet.

Your own safety is the first priority, Sheeler told her audience Friday. “If you are injured, you can’t help others.” Give medical help to others only when it’s safe to do so.

In the case of a car accident, you might have to move someone off the roadway.

A 150-pound person has only four liters of blood, said Sheeler. A smaller person and children have much less.

If a person loses half that, he’ll go into shock and become confused, Sheeler said. “It doesn’t take long to lose that much blood.”

The Stop the Bleed kits include gloves, said Sheeler, but if you don’t have a kit, and you don’t have gloves, you should still take steps to stop bleeding.

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Clothes can be washed. Clothes can be replaced. Lives cannot, Sheeler said.

The first thing to do when coming across an accident is to call 911, said Schaffner. Then look for continuous bleeding, a large volume of bleeding and pooling blood.

Apply direct pressure to the bleeding with anything available, said Schaffner. Even if the shirt or towel or other cloth is dirty, use it. Health professionals will clean the wound when the victim gets to the hospital.

The goal is to keep the person alive that long.

When pressure is applied, keep it on the wound. Don’t peek at it, said Scheeler.

For larger wounds, compression alone is not effective, Schaffner said. A deep wound should be packed with gauze. Stick the gauze into the open wound and apply pressure on top of it.

The health department provided dummy limbs on which people in attendance practiced packing wounds of different shapes and depths.

They also practiced putting tourniquets on one another.

If the bleeding doesn’t stop when a wound is packed, a tourniquet may be necessary, said Schaffner. Put the tourniquet two to three inches above the wound, but not on a joint.

Tighten the tourniquet until the bleeding stops. Do not take it off.

If part of a body has been amputated in an accident, skip the compression and go directly to the tourniquet, said Schaffner.

A tourniquet can be used on a child, but if a tourniquet is too large, use packing and compression. In the absence of a tourniquet, a belt will work.

The victim will be screaming because it will hurt, said Sheeler. But if you don’t do it, they will die.

“If you have to do this stuff, you are saving their lives,” said Schaffner.

Anyone who is interested in Stop the Bleed should contact the Iowa County Health Department, at 319-741-6422.