NORTH BABYLON, NY March 17 2018  – Doctors from NYU Winthrop Hospital trained North Babylon School District security guards on Wednesday as part of the Hospital’s Stop the Bleed program.

A total of 40 guards from all seven of the district’s schools were trained thorough the program held at North Babylon High School.

The national program, which was started by the American College of Surgeons and supported by Homeland Security, encourages first responders and everyday citizens to become trained and empowered to assist in a bleeding emergency until professional medical aid arrives.

“It is vitally important that those responsible for protecting our children while they are in school be trained in the lifesaving techniques of Stop the Bleed,” Fahd Ali, MD, a lead Trauma Surgeon at NYU Winthrop Hospital said. “The North Babylon School District sought out this training to be as well-prepared as possible for unexpected events or accidents, and it’s a critical and very timely program.”

The training comes after the recent shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school which left 17 deadand sparked a national conversation on school safety and gun control.

NYU Winthrop has been training organizations and residents across Long Island in recent months, bringing the program’s lifesaving techniques to university staff, public safety officers, health professionals, entertainment venues, corporations, and more.

Qualified healthcare providers, such as an RN, EMT, paramedic, physician assistant or MD, are among those that can register to become an instructor after taking the initial course, given their existing knowledge of bleeding control.

Lay people may also become instructors by taking the basic Stop the Bleed program followed by Bleeding Control Instructor Training.

“Our Security Guards understand the responsibility we have to protect each and every student, faculty member and employee in our schools,” John Kilgen, Director of School Safety for the North Babylon School District said. “The skills learned from the NYU Winthrop trauma team will enable our highly qualified Security Guards to become more effective than ever. I highly recommend this training for any district.”

According to a National Academies of Science study, trauma is the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 46, resulting from car accidents, gun violence, mass casualty incidents and terrorism, as well as from home and work injuries.

In many cases, the deaths are due to blood loss and are preventable. The program teaches participants tactics to recognize life-threatening bleeding and provide immediate response to control that bleeding including by direct pressure, the use of tourniquets, or packing (filling) a wound with gauze or clean cloth.

Bleeding wounds, such as to the arms and legs, can many times be controlled by direct pressure.

The Stop the Bleed program was first instigated by a physician who examined the wounds among those killed in the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Connecticut and determined that if pressure had been immediately applied to some wounds, deaths would have been prevented.

“We hope that Stop the Bleed will become a standard lifesaving program just like CPR,” Ali said.

Nearby in Hauppauge, the school board voted unanimously on Tuesday night to hire armed security guards for the district’s five schools.

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