TORRINGTON – It’s an average day at school, work, home or out in the community when someone slips using a paring knife, scissors, or some other usually mundane object, and severely injures themselves. Do you know what to do to?
The Community Healthcare Foundation has contributed $4,000 to the “Stop the Bleed” campaign in Goshen County to help ensure residents have the training and tools needed to – potentially – save a life in a bleeding emergency.
Torrington Community Hospital’s Dr. Bonnie Randolph requested funds from the foundation for the project last year, and the board approved it in March 2018, Volunteer Resources Program Manager and Community Healthcare Foundation Liaison Molly Childs said.
“The goal of ‘Stop the Bleed’ is that everyone, everywhere has the training – whether it’s a church, a bank or local business – in case there’s ever an emergency,” she explained. “It’s important to keep our community safe and provide everyone with this education.”
The Community Healthcare Foundation purchased two training kits – at around $1,000 each – and materials to be used by the school district, churches, and local businesses that have been educated in the kit’s use. The foundation’s most recent donation of 25 ‘Stop the Bleed’ kits went to Goshen County School District No. 1. Each kit contains gloves, a tourniquet, emergency bandages, trauma shears, and compressed gauze dressing.
A “Stop the Bleed” kit has also been added to each school’s automated external defibrillator (AED), with a goal is to have every sixth- to 12th-grade student in Goshen County trained in the application of a tourniquet and proper technique to pack wounds.
“You never know when you will be faced with a life-threatening bleeding event,” Randolph said. “Having the skills and equipment to control bleeding can be life-saving. Everyone should know these skills.”
“Stop the Bleed” training is available by contacting Tami Brown at Torrington Community Hospital, (307) 532-4181. Let Brown know if your business or organization would like training and the hospital can accommodate on-site education for you and your staff.
