Staff at Lichfield District Council have learnt how to help someone suffering with a catastrophic bleed and are set to pass on their skills to the wider community.
The Stop The Bleed session on Tuesday (5 November) showed more than 20 staff members how to apply pressure to, and pack, a wound and improvise a tourniquet to halt the flow of blood.
The session was delivered personally to more than 20 staff at District Council House by Sir Keith Porter co-founder of the charity Citizen Aid whose mission is to prepare people to help themselves and each other when there are multiple casualties, particularly from deliberate attacks.
A Professor of Clinical Traumatology, Sir Keith explained that the actions of the general public in the first few minutes following an incident, and before the emergency services arrive, are often crucial to the survival of the casualty.
“People can bleed to death within a few minutes unless someone is there to take appropriate action,” he said.
“For those people who are present safety is the first priority but they need to know what to do.”
Council staff watched an instructional video and practiced how to deal with a wound on a mannequin.
Sir Keith added:
“The attendees were enthusiastic and receptive and asked appropriate questions.
“There was a mixture of prior knowledge but they all learnt basic skills that save lives.
“The most important thing for us is that we get the message out that with simple skills you can stop people dying from a prolific bleed.”
Lichfield District Council’s Principal Community Safety Officer, Yvonne James, said:
“The session delivered by Sir Keith Porter was very well received by staff who will be taking this knowledge and training the rest of their teams in Stop the Bleed.
“Lichfield District Council Community Safety Partnership are looking at delivering this training wider into our communities and education settings in the future. The more people have this knowledge the more lives can be saved.”
Councillor Richard Cox, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement, said:
“On behalf of Lichfield District Council I would like to thank Sir Keith Porter and Mike Robinson of Citizen Aid for providing such a valuable training session.
“They demonstrated lifesaving techniques which staff are now able to share with their teams and people across the district.”
For more information visit www.citizenaid.org or download the free Citizen Aid app.