Around 4,000 Cincinnati Public School juniors and seniors will receive "Stop the Bleed" training thanks to a new partnership with UC Health.
The district announced the partnership Tuesday, which will bring medical professionals from UC inside CPS schools to show students how to respond in an emergency situation. Students will be taught how to apply pressure to a wound, control bleeding, and use a tourniquet.
The training has been available to seniors in the district, but the new partnership will expand the program to reach even more students.
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CPS Superintendent Iranetta Wright says even though most students likely won't have to use these skills while they're in school, she wants them to feel confident and ready if the moment arises.
"While I hope our students never have to use the training actually, we're committed to equipping our students with preparedness and compassion to create a safer, more resilient community while supporting our students' physical and psychological safety," Wright said.
"Stop the Bleed" training can be applied in a variety of emergency situations from animal attacks to car wrecks and shootings. Earlier this year, the training students had received became necessary at Woodward High School during two separate shooting incidents.
In February, Woodward seniors Jaileyana Fraley and Legena Johnson applied pressure to a student's wounds after they had been shot near the school. Fraley and Johnson rendered life-saving aid until emergency services arrived at the scene.
Just a few weeks later, junior Brooklyn Turner and sophomore Delamonte Andrews utilized some of the same techniques to the wounds of two other students who were shot at a bus stop outside the school.
Those four students were later honored by Hamilton County commissioners for their bravery.
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According to UC Health's Trauma Prevention and Outreach Coordinator Regina Menninger, students are shown how to treat injuries no matter where the wound is located. She says this not only gives them tangible skills but also gives them the confidence to stay calm in any situation because they'll be prepared with the knowledge to handle it.
"Just realizing without hesitation that this person needs help. We talk about every different area of the body, so what you would do on the arms or the legs; what you would do in an armpit or groin situation; or what you would do if there was an injury to the abdomen or chest, which of course is the most severe. And for them, they know the priority is 'get this victim to the hospital,’ “ Menninger said.
UC Health says sharing life-saving knowledge through the "Stop the Bleed" training program will help make communities throughout Cincinnati safer.
