Teachers receive immediate responders lessons

‘Stop the Bleed’ training in response to massacre

For Lisa Lazenby, it’s only a matter of time.

But when that seemingly inevitable crisis occurs in or near her workplace, the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts in downtown Las Vegas, she will be better prepared.

Lazenby, a teacher for 24 years, and her fellow staff members received training recently on how to stop bleeding in case someone is badly injured and in danger of “bleeding out.” It’s the first time she has received that kind of training, which is becoming more prevalent in schools because of active shooter incidents.

“It’s something very real,” she said. “I think if I was able to help (in an emergency), I’d be more willing now.”

The so-called “Stop the Bleed” training, provided free by University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, teaches trainees how to properly apply pressure, fasten a tourniquet and pack a wound. Since the Oct. 1 shooting, 1,696 teachers at 28 Clark County schools, and all the district’s nurses and athletic trainers, have received the training, which takes about an hour.

“We are here to make you immediate responders,” said Cassandra Trummel, UMC’s trauma outreach and injury prevention program coordinator, at one recent training.

School safety has been a statewide initiative since the Feb. 14 shooting in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 dead. A special task force created by Gov. Brian Sandoval met Thursday for the first time. The group provides the governor with recommendations on school safety.

The bleeding control program was created by the American College of Surgeons and federal partners after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012. There’s been an increase in such training locally since the shooting on October 1.

“Out of tragedy comes good things, and this is one of them,” Trummel said.

Training is just the first step for the district, said Roy Anderson, a crisis

Source: bleedingcontrol.org

response officer in the district’s office of emergency management. The district is working with some of its health services vendors to create Stop the Bleed kits.

There are commercially available kits, but they tend to be too costly for public entities operating on limited funds, Trummel said.

Some schools have already purchased kits or supplies, including Western High School, Anderson said, but the district is hoping to make them more widely accessible.

After the training, that’s a new priority for LVA principal Scott Walker.

“We really need some of this equipment in every classroom, or strategically placed throughout the school,” he said.