At Thursday’s faculty meeting at Cohoes High School, the teachers were the students, and the lesson they learned could save a life.
Professionals from Albany Med, Cohoes school nurses and a Cohoes firefighter were on hand to teach Stop the Bleed, a program that demonstrates how to recognize and control life-threatening bleeding.
Participants were shown the steps that need to be taken to address serious bleeding before first responders arrive.
“It’s critical to have the basic knowledge and a comfort level so that they can do something instead of being bystanders,” said Tom Moran, Trauma Education, Injury Prevention and Outreach Coordinator at Albany Med.
The Stop the Bleed program was born in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, but it provides a skill set that can be applied in many situations.
“An arterial bleed can bleed out in 30 to 90 seconds,” said Russ Coonradt, Cohoes Fire Department EMS coordinator. “The life-savers in a lot of these situations are just average people who act quickly before first responders arrive.”
As part of the lesson, teachers were able to practice their newly learned skills – which included applying pressure, packing a wound and placing a tourniquet – on prosthetic limbs.
“Our number one priority is to keep students, faculty and staff safe,” Principal Bryan Wood said. “It’s likely that someone in this building, at some point in their lives, will witness a bleeding emergency and they can help save a life.”
Stop the Bleed will be taught to faculty members in all Cohoes schools by mid-February. District leaders also plan to purchase trauma kits to be placed next to all AED machines district-wide.