SAN ANTONIO – More than 20 Southwest Independent School District nurses and police officers are now trained and certified on how to stop blood loss in an attempt to save a person’s life.
And while half of the "Stop the Bleed" training was first learning its main principles, participants on Wednesday were able to get hands-on coaching from instructors with the University Health System just four days after National Stop the Bleed Day.
“This program is very important because it saves a lot of lives,” said Colleen Davis, a registered nurse with University Health System. “Anyone who knows how to do this, if there’s a disastrous situation, they can step up and they can be the one who saves someone’s life.”
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Davis, along with two other instructors, taught the participants with the district on how to control life-threatening bleeding in multiple ways by using a trauma first aid kit, also known as a bleeding control kit.
Using a kit and dummies, SWISD employees learned how to apply a tourniquet on each other and wound packing with bleeding control gauzes.
Davis said the more people who are trained on how to control the bleeding, the greater the chances of a person surviving an injury.
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“It’s very important (to learn), especially because of all the things that have been happening recently,” said Christopher Beltran, registered nursed with SWISD. “We’ve seen these types of accidents happen in our workplace where we need to know those skills so that way we can help save lives.”
For Valerie Maldonado, director of health services with the district, the program helps her staff not only to be proactive should a tragedy happen but also in everyday life.
“In order for us to be prepared and to be proactive, we need to know these skills so that way we are prepared to save a life or numerous lives … you just never know,” Maldonado said.
“I am going to take this training back to my district and hopefully extend it to the community so that way we make sure more people are trained and know how to stop the bleed,” she said.
As part of Leadership San Antonio's “First Responders” initiative, Frost Bank donated 10 bleeding control kits for Southwest ISD.
Maldonado said the kits will be distributed immediately to the district's campuses.
University Hospital offers monthly Stop the Bleed training sessions. To sign up, click here.
To learn more about Leadership San Antonio, click here.