A new monthly course offered at Guelph General Hospital is adding another life saving skill to residents’ tool belts.
Stop the Bleed is being offered by the trauma program at GGH, teaching residents techniques to help stop or slow massive bleeding.
“We are now a Level III Trauma Centre in the province,” said Andrea de Jong, the hospital’s director of emergency services & sexual assault & domestic violence program.
“And part of being a Level III Trauma Centre is (teaching) trauma prevention (in our community).”
The one-hour class will be offered for $50, and will run until at least the end of the year.
Those who complete the class successfully will get a certificate.
Seven instructors, from nurses to emergency-trained physicians, will administer the course.
“They make it very simple, on how to use information that you’re learning,” de Jong said.
Students from John F. Ross took part in the kickoff to the program earlier this week.
“It was really great to have our students participate in this program," Paul Lydan, a teacher at John F. Ross, said in a news release.
"The instructors were knowledgeable and helpful. It made a huge difference for the students to hear directly from people who provide care to those who have experienced a traumatic event,”
The Ministry of Health’s set response time target for the most serious of incidents is eight minutes. Bleeding, she said, is the number one cause of preventable death after injury.
This course will equip people with knowledge on what to do between the time an incident happens and first responders arrive.
“As a trauma centre, we want of course the best outcomes for our patients, and this starts with the people in our community learning how to respond to a serious medical emergency at any time.”
Those interested in signing up for the course can do so online.
