National Stop the Bleed Day is March 31 and all across the country free courses will be available to those who want to learn how to prevent deaths with effective bleeding control.

Jacob Fannin, state coordinator for the Alabama Stop the Bleed Initiative, said Troy will be the site for one of the free courses. Registration is underway by calling Fannin at 334-430-9746 or Melanie Blair at 347-4296.

“Space is limited so those who would like to receive this free Stop the Bleed training are encouraged not to delay in calling,” Fannin said. Those who attend the training will receive a voucher for a free appetizer at Santa Fe.

The training will be from 10 a.m. until noon on Saturday, March 31 in the community room on the lower level of Troy Bank and Trust next to Lowe’s.

“National Stop the Bleed Day is a nation-wide free course on the principles of bleeding control and providing first aid until the arrival of first responders,” Fannin said. “Traumatic injury is the leading cause of death for people below age 46. Thirty-five percent of pre-hospital deaths are due to blood loss. Eighty percent of victims in mass casualty events are transported to the hospital by members of the public.   

“Those facts are the reason Stop the Bleeding Training is so important. It saves lives.”

Fannin said death due to traumatic bleeding can occur in less than five minutes.

“Emergency response should begin within five minutes but often emergency response time exceeds five minutes,” he said. “Of the 147,000 trauma deaths in 2014, 30,000 might have survived with appropriate care, primarily control of bleeding.”

Fannin said everyone has the power to stop life-threatening bleeding caused by injuries in the home, industrial settings or mass-casualty events.

“The care of a bystander who has Stop the Bleed Training is critical in preventing survivable death,” he said. “Accidents happen all the time. If someone is injured while using a chain saw or in a car accident or in a hunting accident and blood loss is critical, would you know what to do to stop the bleed? If the answer is no, then you need this training.”

Fannin said it is possible that anyone could be placed in a situation where Stop the Bleed training could save a life or lives.

“You might think you could not do what is necessary but, yes you can,” he said. “What the training does is prepare you to stop the bleeding until emergency responders arrive or until the person is transport to a hospital,” he said. “It prepares you to stand in the gap between the time a person is experiencing critical blood loss and the arrival of emergency responders.”

Fannin said hopes are that no one will ever be placed in such a situation, but if and when it happens, the ability to respond by standing in that gap could mean the difference between life and death.

The Stop the Bleed program was commissioned by the White House following the Sandy Hook disaster in Newtown, Connecticut. A joint commission of emergency responders, law enforcement and physicians developed a national policy on increasing survivability following mass-casualty events. The consensus found that victims of trauma are susceptible to critical blood loss before first responders can reach the scene and that immediate bystander care is critical in preventing survivable death.