Interim President Dennis Hefner (seated, center), with Resident Assistants (from left): Lucas Butchko, Charles Marshall, Nia Gill, Kayla Makosiej and Timothy Highway-Snider, and (standing) Campus Safety Committee members Charles Holder, emergency planning coordinator, and Sarah Laurie, director, Environmental Health and Safety and Sustainability, reviews the new bleeding control kits that are being placed throughout the campus.
Fredonia is launching Stop-The-Bleed, a program that provides tools and information so bystanders can learn how to assess and stop traumatic blood loss in an emergency.
A total of 110 Bleeding Control Kids, purchased by the Department of Environmental Health and Safety and Sustainability, will be strategically placed in AED cabinets located in all buildings across the campus. The Stop-The-Bleed program includes a formal presentation and hands-on practice, and training sessions have been scheduled by the department.
Studies have found that bleeding control is a crucial lifesaving technique that anyone can use. It’s not only for victims of a campus active assailant, but for any situation where a person has a life-threatening injury and the control of bleeding is paramount to his/her survival.
Bleeding Control Kits include a tactical tourniquet, hemostatic packing gauze, Israeli bandage, trauma shears, non-latex gloves and assorted bandages and wrapping gauze. EH&S&S has supplied tactical tourniquets to University Police for all patrol officers to wear as part of their duty equipment.
EH&S&S has already started training Residence Life assistants and campus staff, as well as students, on how to properly use the Bleeding Control Kits. The certified course was developed for a nonmedical audience to address the needs of the immediate responder to control life-threatening bleeding until help arrives.
Charles J. Holder, Fredonia’s emergency planning coordinator, said Fredonia has taken the lead on this initiative. “There is no doubt that the Stop-The-Bleed program will be a requirement in all schools and universities around the country. It is great that Fredonia is ahead of the curve in that respect,” Mr. Holder said.
The No. 1 cause of preventable death after injury is bleeding, noted Holder, who also serves as the program administrator and lead instructor. “That is why this program and the campus Bleeding Control Kits are so important,” he added.
“Everyone, regardless of your medical background, can benefit from this information. Everyone has the potential to save a life with the use of these Bleeding Control Kits.”
