For most teachers, getting ready for a new academic year involves gathering supplies, creating lesson plans, and putting the finishing touches on their classrooms. At Marple Newtown School District in Newtown Square, though, teachers and staff had an additional item to check off their pre-school to-do list this year: completing a basic bleeding control course (B-Con), led by members of the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center Trauma team.
B-Con courses are an integral part of the national “Stop the Bleed” campaign, which was launched by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security in October of 2015. Whether a traumatic injury is caused by a gunshot, explosion, natural disaster, car accident, or other catastrophic situation, massive, uncontrolled blood loss can lead to death in as few as five minutes — often before trained responders even arrive at the scene. Mass casualty events complicate this further, as emergency medical services (EMS) often must delay their response. Just as the American Heart Association urges the public to learn CPR and the Surgeon General encourages carrying Naloxone in the event of encountering an opioid overdose, the Stop the Bleed campaign aims to equip bystanders with the tools to control severe bleeding, and to empower them to act as immediate responders and provide aid before EMS arrives.
In the three years since the campaign’s rollout, PPMC has been committed to holding easily accessible, hands-on B-Con trainings for school nurses, students, police officers, and other community members. At the recent Marple Newtown School District session, more than 300 teachers and staff from the district’s elementary, middle, and high schools learned to properly identify life-threatening bleeding situations, call for help while administering immediate aid, stem blood flow by applying direct pressure, utilize tourniquets, and pack wounds. After an informative presentation, the staff were split into groups among eight of PPMC’s 40 B-Con instructors to put their knowledge into practice. The feedback from the participants was very encouraging.
“We know how important it is to provide these opportunities to inform and empower the general public to quickly respond to bleeding emergencies, but to hear from the teachers that they felt the experience was highly valuable and they now feel prepared to intervene both in the classroom and in their communities is exactly what we’re looking for,” said John Gallagher, DNP, RN, manager of the Trauma Program. “In the event of a severe bleeding emergency, a person nearby is going to be in the best position to help quickly. They likely won’t be a trauma physician, but with proper training, they can save a life. It’s our team’s mission to train as many members of the general public as we can so we can see a reduction of deaths resulting from blood loss in our community.”