Tech Center students practice life-saving Stop the Bleed training
MUSKEGON: Regardless of how quickly emergency personnel arrive at an accident site, witnesses are nearly always first on the scene. To help raise awareness and prevent loss of life, Stop the Bleed trainers from Mercy Health and Muskegon County Medical Control trained Criminal Justice and Health Science Academy students at the Muskegon Area Career Tech Center (MACTC) on Tuesday, November 28, 2017. Students visited three hands-on training stations practicing life-saving procedures that could be required in their own homes or in their future careers.
At the wound packing station, Heather Ruffin, Mercy Health RN, BSN, and Damon Obiden, Muskegon County Medical Control, led students in practicing how to dress a laceration. With gloved hands, students applied pressure to a rubber leg as they packed clean gauze into a wound.
The tourniquet station, led by Chad Lawton from Muskegon County Medical Control, gave students the chance to practice applying a tourniquet on a partner’s arm or leg. “If you don’t have access to an actual tourniquet, you could even use your necktie,” said Lawton as he spoke to a Criminal Justice student in uniform.
One Stop the Bleed training simulation that did not include bleeding, but is often required at the scene of an emergency, is Airway CPR. Michelle Kucera, Mercy Health RN, BSN, led students in the proper administration of CPR. By the end of the school-year, all Health Science Academy and Criminal Justice students will earn CPR certification.
Students who participated in all three hands-on trainings and the classroom portion of the program received a certificate stating they had successfully completed the instructor demonstration training for the Bleeding Control Basic program. When Lawton asked students who felt comfortable administering the techniques they learned that day, the crowd responded with confidently raised hands.
Launched by the White House in October of 2015, Stop the Bleed is a national awareness campaign and a call to action. Stop the Bleed is intended to cultivate grassroots efforts that encourage bystanders to become trained, equipped, and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives. For more details visit www.dhs.gov/stopthebleed.
Contacts: Kathy Andrews, MACTC Health Science Academy Instructor, kandrews@muskegonisd.org, 231-767-3675
Stephanie Hoekenga, MACTC Student Outreach Specialist, shoekeng@muskegonisd.org, 231-767-3613