Northern Montana Health Care Foundation sponsors 'Stop the Bleed' program

Press release

The Northern Montana Health Care Foundation Board of Trustees recently voted to fund the promotion of a grassroots movement called “Stop the Bleed” here on the Hi-Line.

The board of community members voted unanimously to provide the financial support needed to make this program a free service to the community.

Dale Herd, PA-C, an orthopedic surgery provider at the Northern Montana Specialty Medical Center and retired U.S. Army major, brought the program to the attention of the foundation board. He presented a program explaining how the initiative was started and how it could benefit the community.

Launched in October 2015 by the White House, Stop the Bleed is a national awareness campaign and a call to action. Stop the Bleed is intended to cultivate grassroots efforts that encourage bystanders to become trained, equipped, and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives. Stop the Bleed was started as a result of studying the patterns and techniques used in combat. It was determined that extreme blood loss was the most pressing matter in the event of a trauma that a bystander could have an effect on.

Massive bleeding from any cause, but particularly from an active shooter or explosive event where a response is delayed can result in death. Similar to how the general public learns and performs CPR, the public must learn proper bleeding control techniques, including how to use their hands, dressings and tourniquets. Victims can quickly die from uncontrolled bleeding, within five to 10 minutes. However, anyone at the scene can act as immediate responder and save lives if they know what to do.

“No matter how rapid the arrival of professional emergency responders, especially in a rural area such as Montana and the Hi-Line, bystanders will always be first on the scene,” Herd said to the board. “A person who is bleeding can die from blood loss within five minutes, therefore it is important to quickly stop the blood loss. Those nearest to someone with life-threatening injuries are best positioned to provide first care. According to a recent National Academies of Science study, trauma is the leading cause of death for Americans under age 46.

“Now that the funding is secure for the training we will be rolling out the courses here at NMHC and in the community,” he added. “We will be promoting these courses on Facebook, our nmhcare.org page and in the community. We will begin with training instructors and the training will spread from there.”

All training will be offered free of charge to community. For more information visit the Northern Montana Hospital Facebook page, https://nmhcare.org or https://www.bleedingcontrol.org.