For the fourth year in a row now Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital has been designated a state certified trauma receiving hospital. As part of maintaining that designation, the hospital is involved in staff and community education aimed at both trauma prevention and providing immediate assistance in case of traumatic injury.
“When we have a trauma activation,” said Trauma Registrar Gwen Lawry, “it is ‘all hands on deck’.” That includes someone from almost every department such as the laboratory, radiology and respiratory departments, a house supervisor, someone from social services, possibly a chaplain, a general surgeon and possibly an orthopedic surgeon.
Dr. Joshua Waggner, who works as a general surgeon in the Emergency Room, described how massive bleeding from traumatic injury is one of the most common life-threatening issues that emergency personnel face. He said all emergency room personnel and Emergency Medical Service providers are trained in the basics of stopping massive blood loss. But the hospital also recognizes the need to make that training available to the general public.
It was estimated by professionals involved in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shootings that half of the victims who died in that shooting might have been saved if lay persons on the scene had been trained to stop massive bleeding.
Dr. Waggner said that the hospital’s Stop the Bleed program aims to impart, to as many people as possible, “some simple but incredibly effective steps to stop massive bleeding.” He said it was something that everybody should know like giving basic CPR. He said they have gone a long way in training local EMS and local school teachers and fire personnel and law enforcement, but they also want to reach out to the general public. He said violence in the country appears to be on the increase and we are recognizing that the general population may be having to deal with stab wounds and gunshot wounds in unexpected places such as a shopping mall or a church. He said this kind of basic training was generally reserved for the military and emergency personnel but that it was important now to get it more widely practiced.
“It can save a life,” he said, and not just in the case of war or mass shootings.
Emergency Room Nurse Aleta Lewis knows better than most people how some simple knowledge and training can save a life. She recounted how, about seven years ago, her daughter, who was 11 years old at the time, no doubt saved her own life when, out in the woods with an 11-year-old companion and 15 miles from any help, she received a gunshot wound in what her mom calls “just a freak accident.”
What saved her life that day was what she had learned only a few months previously in a hunter’s safety course: how to apply a tourniquet to stop massive bleeding.
Critical Care Manager and Trauma Coordinator Jennifer Bush said that learning the simple techniques of packing the wound, applying appropriate pressure and learning to use a tourniquet “is good information for anyone of any age.” She said the basics can be learned in a one hour, hands-on training session at a Stop the Bleed workshop.
The next Stop the Bleed training sessions will be held Tuesday, February 25. Free one-hour classes will be held at 1 p.m. and at 2 p.m. Participants must be registered to attend: (406) 375-4654 or mdmh.org/events