Barrow County Emergency Services and Barrow County Schools have joined together in a program that has the potential to save lives for years to come. Every staff member with the school system will be taught the Stop the Bleed- School Response Program.
The Stop the Bleed – School Response Program is designed to enable school teachers, nurses, and staff how to render immediate, potentially life-saving medical aid to injured students or co-workers while awaiting the arrival of professional responders. Through funding from the Georgia Trauma Commission, all public schools that receive the Stop the Bleed training will receive bleeding control kits that include equipment to stop major bleeding, such as tourniquets.
After meeting with Barrow County Schools Superintendent Chris McMichael to discuss the program, his decision was to go beyond the requirements of the program and to train all staff members. Barrow County Emergency Services agreed to handle this training. With more than ten Stop the Bleed Instructors, BCES also enlisted the help of members of the Barrow County Community Emergency Response Team.
The training teaches how to apply a tourniquet, pack, and wound and apply pressure. It shows how to identify life-threatening bleeding and how to decide the best method to control that bleeding. Part of the class was hands-on in which the school staff members placed tourniquets on each other, and applied packing and pressure to a simulated injury.
“We are thrilled to work with Barrow Emergency Services to provide this excellent training to all of our school system staff members. While we pray the skills learned are never needed, it gives us all great peace of mind to know that our employees have had the training and will be able to respond if needed in a life-threatening situation to ensure the safety of both our students as well as each other,” commented Superintendent McMichael.
BCES has taught other public safety agencies, such as Barrow County Sheriff’s Office, and local businesses like Chik-Fil-A in the Stop the Bleed program. The Barrow County Chamber of Commerce Leadership Barrow Class also received the class. BCES is hoping to continue to train many others in this life-saving program so that more lives can be saved. If your business or organization would like more information, or to schedule the training, contact Lieutenant Jeremy Thayer by email at [email protected]
The Hall County and Dawson County school systems are among other agencies that have implemented the program.
