Stop the Bleed!

Imagine, if you will: the car in front of you veers off the shoulder and rolls. When you reach their vehicle, the driver’s left arm is bleeding heavily. Now what? You are the first responder. That’s right—the first responder is simply the first person to respond. That’s you. You could wait for emergency services… or you could act. No training? So...You wait. While you wait, consider a few statistics: According to the National Trauma Institute (NTI), the number one cause of death for Americans ages 1 through 46 is trauma. Of those trauma-related deaths, bleeding is the leading killer after injury to the nervous system. The NTI estimates that 35% of pre-hospital deaths result from severe bleeding. Now, assume someone called 911 right away, and help is on the way within 1–2 minutes of the incident. Here’s the catch: it only takes 3 to 5 minutes to bleed to death. And the average emergency response time in the U.S. is 7 minutes—14 minutes in rural areas. Training is the difference between life and death. Don’t wait. Act.