ST. LOUIS — It was the teachers' turn on Friday to learn, as faculty and staff for Lindbergh Schools received hands-on training for emergency situations.
The Stop the Bleed event took place at Lindbergh High School where Mehlville Fire Protection District (MFPD) paramedics and personnel trained all teachers and staff in the district.
“This training is so valuable,” said Jessica Parker, health and P.E. teacher at Sperreng Middle School. “We’re working with humans, we’re working with different people and injuries can happen, accidents can happen.”
They learned how to identify significant bleeding, how to use gauze and tourniquets, and how to manage different scenarios. Tourniquets and equipment were provided for each classroom at Lindbergh Schools.
“To be able to have this hands-on experience and actually try the tourniquets and use them was so much more helpful than just watching a video or reading about it,” said Kelly Horalek, instructional design coach at Sperreng Middle School.
One important element Parker took away was that “trying your best is going to be better than doing nothing at all,” she said. “That’s a message for all community members. If you can apply direct pressure, that will be better than doing nothing.”
Locating a bleed and trying to control it while waiting for first responders to arrive is “imperative to the survival” of the injured person, according to Darick Day, battalion chief training officer for MFPD.
“These massive bleeding events are life-threatening,” he said. “It’s vital that they learn how to be able to identify them and apply the correct techniques to stop the bleeding.”
Day hopes that the faculty and staff will take away having the confidence to execute the life-saving skills if they encounter a situation.
A common struggle when first learning how to use a tourniquet is determining how tight it needs to be when trying to control a bleed, according to Chris Franklin, critical care paramedic for MFPD.
“Sometimes people underestimate how much you have to compress the tourniquet to actually get the bleeding to stop,” he said.
If there is an arterial bleed, Franklin said to keep turning the tourniquet until the bleeding has stopped as much as possible. He noted that a second tourniquet can be used if needed.
While the fire protection district offers the training frequently for schools, Friday was the first time the training was offered to the entire district, Day said.
The commercial tourniquets are available online for the public to purchase and can receive free training when offered. For more information, contact the fire protection district.
