April 2, 2018
Pictured from left to right are FLMC Staff Coordinator April Ray; Priority Ambulance Critical Care Paramedic Paul Suarez; FLMC Registered Nurse Brittany White; Priority Ambulance Paramedic Jennifer Ruth; FLMC Emergency Department Physician Eric Geibig; Priority Ambulance Loudon County EMS Director Travis Estes; Loudon County School Superintendent Jason Vance; Loudon County School Nurse Lisa Cargile; Loudon County Mayor Buddy Bradshaw; Priority Ambulance Director of Industry and Government Relations Dennis Rowe; Priority Ambulance Paramedic Tony Lowery; and Priority Ambulance Assistant EMS Director Jennifer Stanley.
Last week, Priority Ambulance and Fort Loudoun Medical Center observed the national Stop the Bleed initiative with training events and donations that targeted Loudon County schools and the general public.
In total, more than 110 Loudon County community members were trained in lifesaving bleeding control techniques, including 40 teachers who serve as a medical first response team at each high school. Priority Ambulance and Fort Loudoun also donated bleeding control kits, which include gauze, gloves, tourniquet and trauma shears, to each public and private elementary, middle and high school in Loudon County. The kits will be located in the AED boxes at each school, which are already maintained by Priority Ambulance and marked with clear signage.
Pictured from left to right Priority Ambulance Loudon County EMS Director Travis Estes; Lenoir County Schools Registered Nurse Melanie Crooks; Priority Ambulance Paramedic Jennifer Ruth; Fort Loudoun Medical Center Staff Coordinator April Ray; and Lenoir City High School Principal Charles Orr.
“We’re members of this community, and it’s our children that attend these schools,” Priority Ambulance EMS Director Travis Estes. “We are personally committed to making sure that our teachers and students are prepared for any type of emergency. The bleeding control training will be added to our already extensive lifesaving medical training program in the schools.”
Priority Ambulance and Fort Loudoun Medical Center instructors also held a free Stop the Bleed training classes for the public on National Stop the Bleed Day, Saturday, March 31, at The Venue in Lenoir City. Instructors demonstrated basic techniques and use of household items to control bleeding. More than 70 citizens received bleeding control training and certificates recognizing the completion of the course.
Priority Ambulance and Fort Loudoun Medical Center present bleeding control kits to Greenback High School.
“We partnered with Priority Ambulance on this initiative because we share a commitment to a safe and well-prepared community,” said Jeffrey Feike, President and Chief Administrative Officer at Fort Loudoun Medical Center. “Intervention by bystanders is critical in bleeding control situations, just as it is in cardiac events or stroke, to improve outcomes when patients arrive in our emergency department.”
Research has shown that bystanders with little or no medical training can save a life by knowing basic bleeding control skills to stabilize a patient while emergency responders arrive. More than 30,000 lives could be saved each year with effective bleeding control. Intervention with in bleeding control situation has a higher percentage rate of success than CPR.
“Everyone should know what to do in a medical emergency,” Priority Ambulance Director and National Association of EMTs President Dennis Rowe said. “Just like CPR and other critical first aid skills, knowing when and how to control bleeding can be the difference between life and death. Uncontrolled bleeding injuries can result from natural and manmade disasters and from everyday accidents.”
Priority Ambulance and Fort Loudoun Medical Center staff prepare for the community training day at The Venue at Lenoir City.
Priority Ambulance already provides free biannual training for all Loudon County teachers in CPR and first aid and will add bleeding control to the curriculum. By the end of 2018, all teachers in Loudon County will have received bleeding control training during regularly schedule in-service trainings.
Stop the Bleed, an initiative by the American College of Surgeons, is a national grassroots effort to educate the public in bleeding control protocols. For information on purchasing personal bleeding control kits and events across the country, visit https://cms.bleedingcontrol.org/class/search.
About Priority Ambulance
Based in Knoxville, Tenn., Priority Ambulance provides the highest level of clinical excellence in emergency and nonemergency medical care to the communities it serves. Throughout its national service area, approximately 2,500 highly trained paramedics and EMTs staff a fleet of approximately 400 state-of-the-art vehicles with the latest medical equipment and technology.
Priority Ambulance’s family of companies operates under trusted local brands providing medical transport options in nine states. The Priority Ambulance company partners include Shoals Ambulance in Alabama; Maricopa Ambulance in Arizona; Puckett EMS in Georgia and Southeast Tennessee; Central EMS in Georgia; Seals Ambulance in Indiana; Kunkel Ambulance in Upstate New York; Trans Am Ambulance in western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania; Medshore Ambulance in South Carolina; and Priority Ambulance in East Tennessee. Priority Ambulance also serves Baptist Memorial Health Care facilities in West Tennessee and Mississippi under the Baptist brand. For more information, visit www.priorityambulance.com.
About Fort Loudoun Medical Center
Fort Loudoun Medical Center is equipped with a team of more than 200 doctors in more than 29 specialty areas. Our 87,000-square-foot hospital features advanced technology, including state-of-the-art Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computerized Tomography (CT), Ultrasound, Diagnostic X-Rays and Women’s Imaging Services, as well as Nuclear Medicine technology unique to our surrounding counties. The physicians, staff and volunteers of Fort Loudoun Medical Center are dedicated to providing excellent care to every patient, every time.