Brookings Health Supports Back-to-School with ‘Stop the Bleed’ Education

  • August 19, 2019
Trauma Educator Chelsey Sundberg, RN, demonstrates how to pack a wound for Deubrook Elementary staff. Brookings Health is offering free the “Stop the Bleed” education to all Brookings County schools this fall. The program empowers bystanders to intervene in a bleeding emergency and save lives. Pictured above (from left) are Sundberg, Alyssa Campbell, Karley Olsen, Carla Ramlo, Tammy Jo Schlechter, Melissa Holmlund and Megan Hawks.
Trauma Coordinator Chelsey Sundberg, RN, demonstrates how to pack a wound for Deubrook Elementary staff. Brookings Health is offering free the “Stop the Bleed” education to all Brookings County schools this fall. The program empowers bystanders to intervene in a bleeding emergency and save lives. Pictured above (from left) are Sundberg, Alyssa Campbell, Karley Olsen, Carla Ramlo, Tammy Jo Schlechter, Melissa Holmlund and Megan Hawks.

Brookings Health System is teaching area educators the principles of bleeding control before they head back to the classroom this fall.

“Stop the Bleed” is a national awareness campaign and call-to-action that encourages bystanders to become skilled, equipped and empowered in a bleeding emergency. The program officially began in 2015 with its roots stemming from the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

“Unfortunately we live in a world of terrorism where the actions of unstable people and the dangerous impulses of others are frequent,” said Brookings Health System’s Trauma Coordinator Chelsey Sundberg, RN. “Massive bleeding can result in death before a person ever reaches a medical facility or EMS care. Similar to learning CPR, the general public must learn proper bleeding control. By using simple techniques, bystanders can immediately intervene and save lives.”

As a state wide trauma program goal, Stop the Bleed kits have been placed in all 877 schools across South Dakota. The goal of these kits is to save lives in the event of an active intruder situation.

Brookings Health System is offering free education to all Brookings County schools on proper kit use. The course includes hands-on practice of direct pressure application, wound packing and tourniquet use. It teaches non-medical personnel how to act as a first-responder to control life-threatening bleeding until help arrives.

For more information on Stop the Bleed education, please contact Sundberg at csundberg@brookingshealth.org.

About Brookings Health System

Brookings Health System, located in Brookings, South Dakota, includes a 49-bed hospital, the 79-bed The Neighborhoods at Brookview nursing home, Brookhaven Estates senior living apartments, Yorkshire Eye Clinic, and medical clinics in Arlington, White and Volga, South Dakota. It is a non-profit, city-owned facility that offers the community a full range of inpatient, outpatient, emergency and extended care services. Brookings Hospital provides local access to doctors in Brookings and offers robotic da Vinci surgery and Mako robotic-arm assisted procedures, making it one of the premier rural community hospitals in South Dakota. For more information about the services offered at Brookings Health System, please call (605) 696-9000 or visit us on the Web at brookingshealth.org.