SAFE SCHOOLS: HEMORRHAGE CONTROL TRAINING
My Medic Training + Response is providing school staff bleeding control training and equipment in partnership with local first responders. The US currently averages almost two mass shootings per day. Access to bleeding control equipment and simple training can save life in the event of an active shooter incident.Anyone can save a life during a bleeding emergency, and no one should die from a preventable bleeding death. In addition to active shooter training for schools, The Hartford Consensus, an expert panel convened in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, recommends basic hemorrhage control medical training and hemorrhage control equipment such as such as tourniquets and hemostatic dressings be readily available for responding law enforcement officers. Additionally, the Hartford Consensus describes the public as “immediate responders” and essential to providing point-of-injury hemorrhage control. This recommendation is critical given that victims can bleed out before law enforcement or emergency medical technician first responders are able to render aid. Laypeople are capable of applying tourniquets and hemostatic dressings to stop life-threatening bleeding using practices developed by military battlefield experience. Battlefield bleed control practices have saved an estimated 1000 to 2000 lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Additionally, a battlefield medical training program for non-medics that teaches soldiers point-of-injury hemorrhage-control skills has been shown to reduce mortality from approximately 16% to 10%. Military research has also shown tourniquet use to be generally safe—causing only infrequent minor morbidity. Providing schools with adequate quantities of basic bleeding control equipment augmented by training from qualified emergency medical technicians will save lives in America’s schools. Addressing life threatening bleeding in the school environment should be a goal of building national resilience by empowering civilian bystanders to take action to save lives. This requires ensuring they have the knowledge and tools needed to stoplife-threatening bleeding.
ECUADOR
Our team at My Medic is supporting pre-hospital air medical evacuation training and equipment with US Southern Command and the US State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security Service for the Ecuador Navy, Coast Guard, Fire Service, and Paramedics in the Galápagos Islands. My Medic’s training includes helicopter medical evacuation, hemorrhage control, preparing patients for evacuation, airway management, intubation, and mass casualty triage. This air medical evacuation service rescues approximately 100 people per year in the Galápagos Islands. Without this service, residents and tourists would have no way to access medical services if they experience critical medical events. Supporting this team with training and equipment saves lives.
Türkiye
My Medic Training + Response is supporting Emergency Medical Teams and Search and Rescue partners with pre-hospital medical care, supplies, and technical support on the ground. Our teams have been providing support to Peace Wind’s ARROWS Emergency Medical Team, the Israeli Urban Search and Rescue Team, and local first responders as the rescue phase continues. We are working with these teams near the epicenter in Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye where several rescues have been made and medical treatment of those injured is ongoing. We are also providing medical care and supplies in Nurdağı, Türkiye. As we continue our work, we grieve alongside those who have lost loved ones and continue to focus our efforts on supporting the survivors and first responders.
Ukraine
Collaborating with local first responders, My Medic Training + Response customized individual first aid kits focused on pre-hospital trauma life support equipment. Our kits were delivered directly to the first responder organizations impacted by current events in the region. Not only did we distribute these kits to resource depleted areas, but our experts also trained hundreds of first responders in the use of the donated life saving kits.
ISRAEL
My Medic Training + Response is supporting Israeli first responders on the borders of Gaza and Lebanon with training and pre-hospital equipment. This support allows first responders who are at significant risk of life-threatening injury access to critical pre-hospital care. Since the war started on October 7, 2023, My Medic has supported Israeli first responders with 2500 pre-hospital trauma kits.
LATIN AMERICA
At the request of local government leadership, our experts focused on teaching basic trauma patient assessment, patient packaging, and transporting a patient to definitive care. Training was focused on pre-hospital care providers and emergency room physicians. Our teams delivered training in life saving skills including establishing a patient’s airway, control of critical bleeding, identification of critical orthopedic injuries, water rescue, and rapid transport via helicopter.
caribbean
Working with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), our disaster response experts continue to support the Region Search and Rescue Team training. This disaster response capacity building initiative continues to provide the latest international search and rescue methodology. Our disaster response experts have years of deployment experience with some of the top international teams on the globe. Current Caribbean disaster training initiatives focus on wide area assessment, victim extrication, swift water and rope rescue, and confined space patient treatment and transportation.