Tag Archives: Stop the Bleed

DHEC Recognizes National Trauma Awareness Month by Highlighting Healthcare Quality Programs

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May is National Trauma Awareness Month, and the American Trauma Society (ATS) has deemed this year’s theme “Safe & Secure: Safety is a Choice, Prevention is Key.”   

Most injuries are preventable, and it takes us as individuals to be aware of our surroundings, informed of current practices and methods, and encouraging others to practice safety and prevention. Luckily, DHEC has a number of employees who have dedicated their careers to teaching the public and healthcare providers what it means to prevent injury and traumas.  

Child Passenger Safety Program  

Did you know that DHEC has a Child Passenger Safety Program? Its purpose is to educate parents and the community, public health offices, and partner organization on how to properly install various child safety seats, including booster seats, to prevent child trauma in vehicular accidents.  

Child Passenger Safety Technicians will explain potential dangers for children who are not properly restrained and will serve as a valuable resource for child passenger safety. Karen Moore is a Child Passenger Safety Technician and partners with Safe Kids Worldwide.  

Healthcare Systems and Services  

DHEC’S Bureau of Healthcare Systems and Services is doing great work with South Carolina’s healthcare providers and the community. Within the bureau is the division of EMS, which is gearing up for EMS Week, May 16th-22nd, 2021.

Each day during EMS Week has a different theme, and May 19th is EMS for Children Day. Karen is also the interim manager for Emergent Care and coordinates the EMS for Children program at DHEC. She is actively involved with the mission to improve performance measures and healthcare outcomes for children through education and training for EMS personnel and hospital providers.  

EMS for Children 

The EMS for Children program focuses on prevention in many, if not all, of its initiatives.  

The program holds an annual Pediatric Trauma & Injury Prevention Symposium as a collaboration with the South Carolina Trauma Association. This year marked the 11th annual symposium, which was held in early March. Presentations and topics varied from pediatric burn prevention, traumatic brain injury among children, to new advances in early trauma management.  

This training helps providers in the field stay up to date with the latest data, equipment advances, and prevention & treatment protocol.  

Stop the Bleed 

Also among EMS for Children’s initiatives is the Stop the Bleed program, which has its own observance on May 20th during EMS Week (May 16-22).  

Stop the Bleed is an annual observance that focuses on training the public how to stop traumatic bleeding. Participants will learn how to apply pressure to a wound, pack a wound to control bleeding, and apply a tourniquet.  

The training is open to anyone and offered by a number of organizations; DHEC partners with the American Red Cross. Being trained to Stop the Bleed can mean preventing further injury or death for a traumatically injured person waiting for help from professionals. To find out more about the Stop the Bleed campaign, click here to visit their website.  

In observance of National Trauma Awareness Month, we’ve highlighted a few ways DHEC is working to prevent injury, disability, and fatal outcomes in the community. Please check out the links to learn more. 

By providing trainings and information on these trauma prevention methods, DHEC displays the core value of Promoting Teamwork and the agency strategy of Education and Engagement.  

DHEC in the News: ‘Stop the Bleed,’public housing going smoke-free, students attend health summit

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Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

SC School Nurses Learn How to ‘Stop-the-Bleed’ in Columbia

Columbia, SC (WLTX) – School nurses from all over South Carolina come to Columbia to educate others when it comes to “stopping the bleed” in an emergency situation.

“Bleeding is the number one cause of death in trauma patients, the number one cause of preventable death,” says Rich Wisniewski with DHEC.

In this two-hour class called “Stop-the-Bleed,” school nurses are learning how to train others in emergency procedures.

Charleston public housing braces for challenges as it goes smoke-free

When the nation’s public housing goes smoke-free next week, the Charleston Housing Authority admits it will be struggling with how to enforce the ban even after adopting its own no-smoking policy last fall.

Don Cameron, executive director of the Charleston Housing Authority, said his agency that serves some, families is still trying to find the right balance between creating a healthier environment for residents and making sure the shift isn’t a jarring one.

“This is probably the biggest change we’ve had in the last decade that affects the entire public housing industry across the country,” Cameron said.

General Interest

Florence One students attend health summit in Atlanta

FLORENCE, S.C. – Five students from Florence One Schools went to Atlanta last week to attend the National Fuel Up to Play 60 Summit, the nation’s largest in-school health and wellness program.

DHEC Helps SC Schools ‘Stop the Bleed’

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In 2017 the Upstate Healthcare Coalition presented a project to provide stop the bleed kits to all regional schools in the Upstate as part of the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) grant funding, through the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). DHEC works with the coalitions to administer this grant.

Coalition WinnerThe Lowcountry, Midlands and Pee Dee Healthcare coalitions decided to implement this project in their regions as well. Spartanburg Regional Health, MUSC, Palmetto Health and Grand Strand Health are partnering with the HPP Health Care Coalitions to help facilitate this project.

The state of South Carolina and the Regional Healthcare Coalitions have received almost $1.06 million in federal grant funding. South Carolina is scheduled to receive more than 18,000 “Stop the Bleed” kits that will be evenly distributed among the four Public Health Preparedness Regions’ school districts.

Public school districts will receive “Stop the Bleed” training and tourniquet kits at no cost to the districts. The tourniquet kits will contain supplies and cuff-like devices that can stop severe traumatic bleeding during an emergency on the school campus or during a school event, enabling lay-people to intervene and potentially save lives in the event of a life-threatening injury. Each district will be allocated tourniquets based on population and will distribute them to the schools.

The model for training and distribution would be to have lead nurses in all participating districts attend train-the-trainer educational sessions, where they would obtain certificates to verify their training status upon completion. Once the lead nurses are trained, a supply of kits will be delivered to their offices for distribution at the district’s discretion (factors include, but are not limited to, the number of schools, school size and the number of buildings, and student volume).

There will be at least one training held in every region. District school nurses would be responsible for training the other nurses in their district.

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DHEC in the News: Flu, ‘Stop the Bleed’ kits, opioids

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Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

South Carolina flu season deadlier than any of past five

Some 221 South Carolinians have died so far this flu season, more than in any of the previous five flu seasons, state health officials report.

And flu season isn’t over yet.

According to state records, 46 South Carolinians died during the 2012-13 flu season, 78 perished in the 2013-14 season, 157 in the 2014-15 season, 47 in the 2015-16 season, and 94 in the 2016-17 season.

“This flu season has been particularly harsh for South Carolina and our country as a whole,” said Dr. Linda Bell, epidemiologist for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Upstate hospital sparks initiative to get life-saving equipment into every SC school

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — A team effort led to grant funding that will provide 19,000 life-saving kits to every school in South Carolina. The idea for the initiative started in Spartanburg.

“We’ve always called EMS first responders, but we want the lay public that has no background in medicine at all to not be afraid of what bleeding looks like,” said Amy Hamrick, trauma program manager at Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System.

General Interest

Centers for Disease Control to award over $15 million in opioid overdose prevention funds

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is awarding more than $15 million over three years to seven chosen projects that will help prevent opioid overdoses.

The CDC will award $15,750,000, given out as $750,000 per year, for a total of $2,250,000 over the three years.