The Louisiana Emergency Response Network (LERN) Region 3 Commission is hosting a STOP THE BLEED course open to members of the public in celebration of National Stop the Bleed Day on May 25, 2023 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at the Houma Municipal Auditorium, 880 Verret Street, Houma.

RSVP online or to Yvette.legendre@la.gov

No matter how rapid the arrival of professional emergency responders, bystanders will always be first on the scene of traumatic injury, large or small in scale. A person who is bleeding can die from blood loss within five minutes, making it imperative that a citizens know how to quickly stop the blood loss.

STOP the BLEED campaign has three basic goals:

1. Raise public awareness of the need for STOP THE BLEED knowledge
2. Extensive STOP THE BLEED training of Louisiana citizens to become “Immediate Responders”
3. Wide distribution of bleeding control stations and individual bleeding control kits

Dr. Michael Sutherland, LERN Trauma Medical Director, explains “Think CPR. Decades ago, our medical and public safety leaders came together and launched a multiyear effort to train a wide variety of citizens in the basics of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). As a result, today when someone is stricken with a cardiac arrest – in a retail store, a church, a construction site, a school, on a playground, or on the highway – there is a good chance that some citizen who just happens to be in the area will be able and willing to start CPR. We need to replicate that kind of educational effort for STOP THE BLEED. The training is straightforward and takes only one and a half hours to complete. Most people can do this.”   

For more information about these efforts or to schedule a training for a specific group, visit LERN’s website or call (225) 756-3440.