TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES: STOP THE BLEED MONTH

[Brimstone]

Just as an FYI, these are going on all the time and are free, at least in my area. I took my son to one this week. It was really well done and he learned a lot. He now has a small trauma pack with a CAT tourniquet in his backpack for high school. Well worth the hour spent.

[3 AE]

Thanks for the link "jethroUSMC". As "Brimstone" stated these courses are still available throughout the country. My wife and I are attending the class tomorrow at a local FD taught by an EMT. Will report how it went later on.

Follow-up: Class size was small, six attendees, but that allowed plenty of practice time with the supplied training devices. Basically the class followed the procedures shown in the following link through a "Power Point" presentation.

https://www.bleedingcontrol.org/~/me...20booklet.ashx

The hands on training consisted of the use and application of a tourniquet, we used CAT training models along with cheaper knockoffs. The instructor strongly emphasized the purchase of CAT, SOF-T's through authorized dealers and/or the manufacturers directly if we chose to add a tourniquet to our bleed control kit. Purchasing knock-offs from Ebay, Amazon, etc. was a serious No-No. We also performed wound packing using Z-Fold and rolled gauze. All of us were surprised by how much gauze it could take to completely fill a large wound cavity before direct pressure could be applied with our fingers and hands. "Keep stuffing it in there." was the all too common reply from the instructor when asked if we used enough gauze!.

Though the class was short in duration, about 90 minutes, it did provide the basic procedures in a very simple to understand format so that everyone in attendance felt that they had the confidence to act if the situation ever presented itself. Several students including my wife said how hesitant they felt to taking the class because of a perceived notion that it would be too complicated and that they would feel overwhelmed to act should the need arise. Feedback from all in attendance was very positive with the consensus being, "Hey we can do this!" If there's a class available in your area, go and take it along with family members and friends that you feel are capable of putting this knowledge into practice.

A shout out to the Jefferson Fire Dept. Volunteers who put this together to help us to help others. Kudos to all.

[safetywave]

Thanks for sharing link @ jethroUSMC . This is helpful for anyone looking first aid information.