October 28, 2018

By Wicker Perlis

The national Stop the Bleed program has been a part of MU’s campus health initiative for 3 years now, giving people training on how to do more in situations where lives are at risk due to blood loss.

The stated goals are clear, to train as many people as possible to offer first aid in situations where people have been injured and are losing blood. In addition to training, the program equips campuses with kits to distribute in public places that can be used by trained bystanders to slow or stop bleeding.

Stop the Bleed was developed by the American College of Surgeons and the White House in 2015 and has rapidly spread across the country. Kassie Rebbecca Campbell, the director of Stop the Bleed at MU, said the program is vitally important to saving lives.

“Trauma is the leading cause of death in individuals under 50,” Campbell said. “Hemorrhage[s and] blood loss from these traumas account for 40 percent of these deaths. By teaching individuals how to ‘Stop the Bleed,’ we can save lives.”

She said not only is it vitally important nationwide, but it’s a program that is badly needed here in central Missouri and MU is the ideal location to base it out of.

“As the only level 1 trauma center in mid-Missouri, accredited by the American College of Surgeons, this training is essential to rural Missouri.” Campbell said.

Those who have undertaken the training said it is extremely useful and not as time consuming as some might think.

“It only took 30 minutes and was very informative. The people teaching it did a very good job,” freshman Connor Clary, who took the training during Welcome Week, said.

One concern among the organizers is the number of people on campus who have yet to participate in the training.

“There are 125 kits distributed around campus, and over 30 thousand students, faculty and staff, our goal is to train 50 percent of these individuals in the next two years,” Campbell said.

However, just over 2,000 people have been trained in the last three years, Campbell said. Clary understands that the training he went through could be extremely useful for other students and members of the university community.

“I think more people should do it because if you learn how to stop bleeding it can save someone’s life,” he said.

As far as how the university will reach their goal of training half of the students on campus, Campbell said spreading the word is the easiest way to get people in the door and trained.

Anyone who would like to participate in Stop the Bleed training, should sign up by emailing Kassie Rebecca Campbell at campbellkr@health.missouri.edu or by calling her at (573) 884-6381.

“Encouraging your organization, sorority, fraternity, employer, class, club, or group of friends to get trained will help us reach our goal,” Campbell said. “It only takes 3 to 5 minutes for a person to bleed to death from an arterial bleed so, providing this education empowers the bystander to help save a life while waiting for emergency responders to arrive.”

_Edited by Morgan Smith | mosmith@themaneater.com_