YCFD provides additional training for ‘bleed’ program
Last year, the Yuba City Fire Department rolled out its Stop the Bleed program as part of a nationwide campaign to better prepare the public in the event they are near a person who is suffering from severe bleeding.
“The purpose of the campaign is to build national resilience by better preparing the public to save lives by raising awareness of basic actions to stop life threatening bleeding following everyday emergencies and man-made and natural disasters,” according to the Stop
the Bleed official website. “Advances made by military medicine and research in hemorrhage control during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have informed the work of this initiative which exemplifies translation of knowledge back to the homeland to the benefit of the general public.”
To help support that effort, Yuba City Fire Department Fire Chief Jesse Alexander said the department partnered with Yuba City’s Human Resources Department to purchase nine Stop the Bleed kits, which he said were placed at city facilities, including city council chambers. He said the department also participated in training city staff.
On Monday, members of the Yuba City Fire Department provided additional training to city staff and included a guest speaker with a harrowing story related to a neardeath experience she had with a drunken driver. Alexander said techniques used in the Stop the Bleed program saved her life.
Her story was recently shared by the Yuba
County District Attorney’s Office.
“Just before noon on
May 30, 2021, Rebecca Schmidt decided to go for a short bicycle ride. Her husband Martin aired up the tires on her Trek bike. Rebecca put on her helmet and headed out on a rural road on a nice spring day in the Yuba County foothills,” the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office said. “Unbeknownst to Rebecca and Martin, Richard Zapata was also out that morning. Richard had been drinking beer, lots of beer. Despite having a blood alcohol content over three times the legal limit of .08%, Richard chose to get in his car and head out to get a burger and fries. He was on his way back to his foothill home when their worlds collided.”
What happened next, the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office said, changed her life forever.
“Rebecca heard the car coming behind her as she rode uphill on the inside of a sweeping right curve. She looked over her shoulder and saw the car coming fast. Rebecca rode off the asphalt onto the unimproved shoulder of gravel and grass. Hearing screeching brakes behind her, she looked back and saw the car fish-tailing towards her,” the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office said. “She rode down the shoulder toward the embankment that rose above her, but there was nowhere else to go. The force of the collision knocked Rebecca off her bike and onto the embankment. She saw the car stop and thought for a moment she had gotten away unscathed. Then she looked down and realized her left leg below her knee was gone, hanging only by a ligament. Rebecca picked up her leg and held it to her chest, hoping to slow the bleeding.”
After arriving home, law enforcement and emergency medical services personnel were called to the home and applied a tourniquet to help stop the bleeding.
“Doctors saved Rebecca’s life, but were unable to save Rebecca’s left leg,” the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office said.
“She spent five days in the ICU and underwent two surgeries before transferring to a facility for physical therapy. Her left leg was amputated through her knee. Fifteen days after the collision Rebecca returned home to her rural property in a wheel chair.”
As a result of her ordeal, the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office recently awarded Schmidt with a Courage Award at a luncheon during Victims’ Rights Week.
“As for Richard, he pled guilty to felony DUI with a prior conviction and admitted having a high blood alcohol level and inflicting great bodily injury,” the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office said. “A judge considered Richard’s prior DUI and the fact that Richard did stop and help Rebecca, sentencing him to four years and four months in state prison. Although technically ineligible for parole until 2024, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has already released Richard to a ‘community reentry program.’”
Alexander said the Yuba City Fire Department will continue the Stop the Bleed program in the community and “will be reaching out to school districts in the future to provide this training, which is free of charge.”