The UNC Initiative Founders
OUR STORY:
Stop The Bleed (STB) student initiative has humble beginnings. The initiative has been primarily run by a group of seven students since its inception in October of 2018. UNC medical student, Sean Donohue, learned of the STB nationwide initiative during his first year of medical school and spent his summer researching health literacy and efficacy of the STB course. Donohue recognized the importance of providing this training to the entire UNC Campus. Neha Aggarwal and Valerie Evivie met with Donohue as leaders of the prominent on-campus public health organization, GlobeMed at UNC, to arrange a simple Stop the Bleed course for their chapter. Through just one afternoon conversation, they decided that the program was begging for a larger establishment at the university level and was becoming increasingly relevant for UNC’s campus in the wake of protests regarding the Confederate statue known as Silent Sam. This conversation kickstarted the on-campus initiative. Goutam Gadiraju joined as a student instructor of the on-campus EMT-B course taught by the Association for Carolina Emergency Response and Injury Prevention (ACERIP). Medical students, Annika Dirkse, Carson Merenbloom, and Elexis Hollingsworth, joined the effort after completing a STB course that Donohue taught during a Wilderness Medicine Camping Trip in September of 2018. Once the entire team was assembled they immediately got to work on how to bring STB training and bleeding control kits to the entire UNC campus community. The interdepartmental student initiative registered as an official student organization in the UNC School of Medicine in Spring 2019 with Al Bonifacio (RN, BSN, MHA, CEN), Trauma Department Program Manager, serving as faculty advisor.
The founding group has enjoyed many successes with the help of multiple departments and individuals across campus. The initiative secured a UNC Parent’s Council grant, which allowed for the purchase and installation of approximately 120 bleeding control kits on campus with the help of Campus Health. The UNC EMT program, ACERIP, has integrated the STB training into their EMT-B course. The UNC School of Medicine has agreed to offer a Stop The Bleed week to train first-year medical students the basics of bleeding control. Approximately 15 certified students joined as registered STB instructors in the original cohort.
The UNC STB student initiative is a prime example of the amazing feats that students can accomplish. The founders would like to thank all of the individuals and departments who have helped bolster the initiative from the beginning. We extend a big thank you to UNC Trauma, Campus Health, The Parent’s Council, ACERIP, UNC SOM, EHS, Safety & Security Committee, Buckley Public Service Scholars, and more!
