Even though crime is actually down in the country, a record number of Americans say it’s a serious issue. That’s according to a recent Gallup poll.
An ambulance service in Elk County is now offering “Stop the Bleed” classes to the general public. Organizers want bystanders to be ready for mass shootings, stabbings, hunting accidents and other life-threatening events.
Breanna Ullman led a “Stop the Bleed” class for about 20 people on Saturday. She showed them how to pack a wound, using gauze and a tub of Play-Doh with an indentation in it.
”So take some gauze, pack it in that cavity that’s in there, [and] that’s what it’s going to feel like if you have to pack a wound," Ullman said.
Ullman is a paramedic and the assistant manager of the St. Marys Area Ambulance Service. Other first responders, mixed with interested community members, tested out Velcro tourniquets.
Tyler Bender is the training and education coordinator for the ambulance service. He said this training could save a person's life while they're waiting for an ambulance, even though it can be gruesome.
“I'd rather be in pain than dead. So when you're packing that wound and they're screaming at you, it's gonna hurt. It's okay. They're still alive, they're going to be alive. When you're applying that tourniquet and you're cinching it down, it's gonna hurt, [and] it's gonna suck," Bender said.
Bender said it's important to know how to pack a wound and apply a tourniquet as mass shootings continue throughout the country. He pointed to a recent shooting in neighboring Jefferson County.
“It could very well happen. I think Punxsutawney had a shooting at Walmart recently. So it could totally happen in our area. And I would like the general public as well as our health care providers to be prepared for it," Bender said.
Pennsylvania State Police in Punxsutawney say that shooting was an isolated family dispute between two brothers, which ended in one of them dying.
Patricia Rung attended the "Stop the Bleed" class on Saturday. She came with her daughter from Johnsonburg.
“She was shot in her leg before. She wasn't going to come. I made her come. Because I want to learn," Rung said.
This “Stop the Bleed” class is the first of several that the St. Marys Area Ambulance Service plans to hold. Organizers say they’re surprised by the amount of interest shown by the community so far.
