Rapides Regional and Acadian Ambulance Host ‘Stop the Bleed’ Campaign

Life-threatening emergencies can happen anytime, anywhere. And knowing how to help in those situations can save a life.

ABC 31 News Reporter Keisha Swafford has the story on how to prevent a victim from bleeding to death.

The Stop the Bleeding Campaign aims to reduce the number of patients who die within 24 hours after arrival.

“If you want to stop the bleeding of someone who is in trouble and they need immediate help, call 911 first, second step is to apply the pressure with your hands, pack the wound, apply the dressing, and press it as hard as you can to stop the bleeding.”

According to the U.S. Homeland Security, a person can die from blood loss within five minutes.

Rapides Regional Nurse Theresa Hood says, “You want to hold pressure on it. Put your hands right over there and hold tight for me, and hold, hold, hold tight.”

Participant Stella Cole says, “I learned that you could use any type of material to stuff in a wound to stop bleeding.”

News Reporter Keisha Swafford says, “And then if that doesn’t work, apply the tourniquet, which is right here and make sure you twist it, twist it, twist it, until it stops bleeding and then put the time on it, so you make sure the hospital knows when the tourniquet was put on.”

Hood explains to a participant on how to use a tourniquet: “Twist, twist, twist. Whew, come on. Look how strong you are.”

Cole says, “It felt good because I know that if I ever needed to use that, it would be in good use to know how to do it.”

In three easy steps, participants learn how to save a life.

Rapides Regional gives free classes every month to teach life-saving techniques.