Peachtree – What would you do if your neighbor suffered an injury that caused a life-threatening bleed?
Folks who attended a “Stop the Bleed” course Saturday morning at the Peachtree Community Center can feel more confident in their abilities to do just that. About 40 people came out to learn some medical skills that could assist them in saving a life should the situation ever arise.
Course instructors Crystal Cook Marshall – MST, MFA, PhD, AgroMedicine coordinator and faculty, director of N.C. AgrAbility Partnership, N.C. A&T State University in Greensboro – and Amy Nance Nelson, AgroMedicine RN, integrative health coach, N.C. AgroMedicine Institute in Greenville – led the class in techniques for stopping and controlling severe bleeding, as well as what can be done for crushing injuries and how to administer proper CPR techniques. Various injuries caused by vehicle accidents, farming and those suffered by elderly folks were discussed, with a pictorial presentation aiding the course.
Many people attending the course were concerned about response times of emergency personal due to being greater distances away from help in rural areas, as opposed to living in cities where help is more readily available. Folks just wanted to be able to do something to help while waiting for medical personnel to arrive.
Hands-on training was offered, with attendees practicing tourniquet application on each other along with CPR that was done on course mannequins. The class was sponsored by Peachtree Community Development Club as a service to folks in surrounding areas.
The youngest class participant was 9-year-old Ulysses Marshall, who said of the training, “I find it beneficial to learn to do this CPR for safety and being able to help someone in need.”
Each participant received a free tourniquet kit, and snacks were provided.
“I want people in rural communities to feel confident in taking the first steps if they’re the first ones on a scene in a traumatic injury incident or cardiac arrest, anything like that,” Nelson said. “I don’t want them to get wrapped up in the details of whether they know all the protocols to do. I want them to remember the most important points and to feel confident to move forward.”
Details: Visit stopthebleed.org.