The Nationwide STB Initiative

In the aftermath of the 2013 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, the American College of Surgeons developed The Hartford Consensus, a set of national policy recommendations that would increase survivability from active shooter and other mass-casualty events. The Stop The Bleed (STB) initiative is a program born of the partnership between the American College of Surgeons, the Committee on Trauma, and the Hartford Consensus™ that teaches laypersons the basic techniques of bleeding control. Uncontrolled bleeding can cause loss of life in five to ten minutes, which may occur before first responders have time to arrive to the scene. Our program seeks to create “immediate responders” by teaching our campus community members how to apply direct pressure, pack a wound, and use a tourniquet.

The UNC STB initiative is a collaborative effort between the STB student group and the UNC Trauma Department. Students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to request bleeding control courses or attend an open course to learn the skills necessary to respond to accidental or intentional harm. All of our campus instructors meet the qualifications set by the national STB program and include: UNC medical students, UNC ACERIP EMTs, and UNC Trauma Department staff. Our campus-wide initiative was recently bolstered by a UNC Parent’s Council grant awarding us with the funds to purchase and install approximately 120 bleeding control kits across campus in the Fall of 2019.

Please visit https://www.stopthebleed.org/ for more information from the National Stop The Bleed initiative!