Anyone can learn to Stop the Bleed. Be prepared to save a life.
April 20 2022- – National Stop the Bleed Day – May 19, 2022 – now in its 5th year, is currently one of the largest public health initiatives in the United States. The campaign aims to directly save lives through an effort to increase public awareness and encourage people and organizations across the United States to get trained with life-saving Stop the Bleed techniques, so they can be ready to take action and stop everyday instances of life-threatening bleeding in their homes and communities.
Experts say it takes approximately 3-5 minutes to die from blood loss and 7-10 minutes is the average EMS response time.
“Before a trauma patient arrives at our hospital, anything a community member can do at the scene of an accident to control blood loss makes the person’s chance of survival much greater,” said Dr. Pedro Gonzalez, medical director of trauma at Delray Medical Center. “Tragedy can strike when you least expect it, and we encourage everyone to join us and learn how you can become a properly equipped and trained bystander.”
“Anyone can attend one of our easy trainings and be ready to save someone’s life – a friend, a family member, a colleague, or the person next to you – whether you know them or not,” said Dr. Robert Borrego, medical director of trauma at St. Mary’s Medical Center. “The number one cause of preventable death after an injury is bleeding, and we want to empower our community to be able to make a life or death difference when faced with injuries from a serious accident.”
As Level I Trauma Centers, both Delray Medical Center and St. Mary’s Medical Center offer the highest level of care available, and are the only trauma centers in Palm Beach County. Both hospitals are part of the Palm Beach Health Network (PBHN), which comprises six hospitals and care centers spanning Palm Beach County, and is the largest healthcare network in the area. Our trauma teams utilize the Stop the Bleed program to educate the community on how to save lives by providing free training courses.
Stop the Bleed is critically important because incidents like mass shootings or natural disasters, along with everyday accidents, whether on the playground, the freeway, or in the kitchen could put people at risk of bleeding out. People must become aware of this because in many cases, death from blood loss is preventable.
Stop the Bleed is a course that is designed to teach non-medically trained community members how to control bleeding until professional help arrives. In the Stop the Bleed course, community members learn three quick techniques to save lives before someone bleeds out:
- How to use your hands to apply pressure to a wound
- How to pack a wound to control bleeding
- How to correctly apply a tourniquet
StoptheBleed.org says that more than 1.5 million people have now been trained to Stop the Bleed, but that’s just a start. Their goal is to train 200 million. Why? Because the purpose of the Stop the Bleed campaign is to make our nation more resilient by better preparing the public to save lives if people nearby are severely bleeding. The hospitals are hosting the following Stop the Bleed events:
St. Mary’s Medical Center:
5/5 5-6:30pm
6/2 5-6:30pm
https://www.stmarysmc.com/events
Stop the Bleed is a national public health initiative with support from public and private sector organizations and individuals committed to saving lives. The initiative is supported by over 100 organizations including the United States Department of Defense, American College of Surgeons, United States Department of Homeland Security, Stop the Bleeding Coalition, and American Red Cross.
About Delray Medical Center
For nearly 40 years, Delray Medical Center, part of the Palm Beach Health Network, is a 536-bed acute care hospital, has served the communities of South Palm Beach County. As both a community hospital and state-designated Level I Trauma Center located on a 42-acre medical plaza, Delray Medical Center has the ability to offer several specialized services including cardiac care, orthopedics, rehabilitation, neurosciences, emergency care, and more.
Delray Medical Center is a recipient of the Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award for four years in a row, a designation recognizing superior performance of hospitals preventing the occurrence of serious, potentially avoidable complications for patients during hospital stays. The hospital is also a Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Heart Failure for 19 years in a row (2003-2022).
Delray Medical Center is a state-designated Comprehensive Stroke Center by the DNV-GL and received Get With The Guidelines award for advanced therapy for Thrombectomy. In addition, the hospital earned the Get With the Guidelines – Heart Failure and Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Awards from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association in 2020. Delray Medical Center was also named by Healthgrades as a Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Stroke for 14 years in a row (2008-2022). Pinecrest Rehabilitation and Outpatient Hospital at Delray Medical Center is a CARF accredited rehabilitation unit, and the only state designated brain and spinal cord injury rehabilitation program in Palm Beach County by the state of Florida, Department of Health. Delray Medical Center is also recognized as a high performing hospital in 2022, for the treatment of COPD by U.S. News and World Report. The hospital is also a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence. For more information about our services, visit our website at www.delraymedicalctr.com.
About St. Mary’s Medical Center
St. Mary’s Medical Center is a 460-bed acute care hospital located at 901 45th Street in West Palm Beach. The hospital has been serving the medical and health care needs of the greater West Palm Beach area for more than 80 years.
St. Mary’s Medical Center offers a broad array of adult and pediatric services, including: a Level 1 Trauma Center, a state-designated Pediatric Trauma Referral Center, Comprehensive Stroke Center and a state-designated Brain and Spinal Cord Acute Injury Center. Additional services include the Neuroscience Center, High-Risk Obstetrical Unit with a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), the Institute for Advanced Orthopedics, the Rehabilitation Institute, the Memory Disorder Center, Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine Center, Schwartz Dialysis Center and the Institute for Mental Health.
Pediatric services are provided at the Palm Beach Children’s Hospital at St. Mary’s Medical Center, which is the only dedicated children’s hospital between Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando. Along with 24/7 dedicated pediatric emergency and trauma care, Palm Beach Children’s Hospital’s medical staff consists of 196 pediatricians in 36 subspecialties. These include limb reconstruction and lengthening at the Paley Orthopedic and Spine Institute, pediatric oncology program, which includes membership in the Children’s Oncology Group – a clinical trials group supported by the National Cancer Institute, and pediatric orthopedics. In addition, in-house pediatric intensivists work with area pediatricians to care for children while staying at Palm Beach Children’s Hospital.
St. Mary’s Medical Center is fully accredited by the Joint Commission, the nation’s oldest and largest hospital accreditation agency, and is a member of the Children’s Hospital Association. The hospital has won many prestigious awards, including the Tenet Circle of Excellence award. To learn more about St. Mary’s Medical Center and Palm Beach Children’s Hospital, visit www.stmarysmc.com, www.palmbeachchildrens.com or call 561-844-6300.
Palm Beach Health Network
The Palm Beach Health Network (PBHN), comprising six hospitals and care centers spanning Palm Beach County, is the largest healthcare network in Palm Beach County. Our hospitals, including Delray Medical Center, Good Samaritan Medical Center, Palm Beach Children’s Hospital, Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, St. Mary’s Medical Center, and West Boca Medical Center, along with a large multi-specialty physician group, various ambulatory surgery centers and outpatient diagnostic facilities, is recognized for providing the highest quality healthcare, combining cutting-edge health services with patient-centric care. With the greatest longevity in the community, along with hospitals and care centers that span the entirety of Palm Beach County, more patients trust PBHN than any other in the region.
