By Clark Judge.
(June 5, 2019) — For the past two years, the Killingworth Ambulance Association has been preaching the value of its “Stop the Bleed” classes. Now it has tangible evidence.
Cathy Iino’s right hand.
Killingworth’s First Selectwoman sliced her right thumb this spring while using a knife on a cutting board. It wasn’t a serious accident, but there was enough bleeding that she sought immediate medical attention and required stitches.
“Most people who cut themselves with a knife,” she said, “would be holding the knife in their dominant hand and cut the other hand. Of course, I wasn’t doing that. I was pretty mad at myself.”
Nevertheless, she knew what to do. Having taken a “Stop the Bleed” class in May, 2018, with other Town Hall officials, she knew how to respond.
“Raise the arm and press hard,” she said, holding her bandaged hand over her head. “And don’t panic.”
Iino’s experience is an illustration of the importance of the “Stop the Bleed” program. A nationwide awareness campaign (www.bleedingcontrol.org) launched in 2015 by the White House and Department of Homeland Security, “Stop the Bleed” is designed to empower bystanders with the training to deal with traumatic events and emergency bleeding situations before help arrives.
“You just don’t know when something’s going to happen,” said Don McDougal, a “Stop the Bleed” instructor and member of the KAA’s board of directors. “And it could happen anywhere. You don’t know when you might be driving down the road and come upon an accident … and you’re the first one there.”
The KAA first offered “Stop the Bleed” classes in July, 2017, making Killingworth the first Connecticut town to have its citizens certified. Since that time it has conducted 18 classes, including two in May (“Stop the Bleed Month”), with another scheduled for 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, June 12, 2019 at the Killingworth Library.
The class lasts one hour and is free and open to the public.
And the public has responded. Students have ranged in age from the early teens to late 70s, with groups that include the Killingworth Volunteer Fire Company, the Lions Club, Girl Scouts, local library, Haddam-Killingworth High-School staff and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).
In fact, one day after Killingworth Fire members completed their class, they answered an emergency bleeding call where they used “Stop the Bleed” kits picked up 24 hours earlier. In another instance, a local resident who took a “Stop the Bleed” course used his kit to staunch bleeding in a dog that damaged its paw in a slamming door.
But the reach of Killingworth’s “Stop the Bleed” program doesn’t end at the town line. A New Britain resident last month contacted the KAA, expressed interest in the course and drove here to take the first of the two May classes.
“The response has been good,” said McDougal. “Of course, you’d always like to see more.”
Classes typically involve a power-point lecture, followed by hands-on skills stations that focus on applying pressure to simulated wounds and treating them with direct pressure, gauze packing and a tourniquet. According to the American College of Surgeons, there are 44,771 instructors in 95 countries and all 50 United States, with Connecticut ranking 21st in the U.S with 867 trainers.
“The idea,” said McDougal, “is to recognize when something is life-threatening and to know what to do when minutes are critical.”
For more information on “Stop the Bleed,” contact the Killingworth Ambulance Association at killingworthambulance.org or call (860) 663-2450.
Photo by Clark Judge.
