On a Ventura beach, a group of doctors, nurses, firefighters, and paramedics are training nine- to 15-year-old kids in techniques to stem the bleeding of someone who is seriously injured.
The program, Stop the Bleed, features instruction on how to help keep a person alive until professional first responders arrive.
Stop the Bleed was developed in 2016, in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
"People died from hemorrhages or bleeding, and that's the number one cause of death from trauma," said Dr. Thomas Duncan, Ventura County Medical Center's Trauma Medical Director. He helped organize the Stop the Bleed event on the Ventura beach.
"It teaches people how to deal with life-threatening bleeding, like using a tourniquet or packing gauze," said Duncan. "This has been taught to over five million people around the world, and it's been taken to 168 countries."
More than 300 kids, many of whom are junior lifeguards, were on hand receiving the recent training.
"We're educating the kids so they can be ocean-safe, so they can save their own lives and potentially go out and save someone else's," said State Parks Department specialist Carrie Johnson. "CPR and first aid (are) a big component of this program, and this (Stop the Bleed) fits in perfectly with being able to be a first responder to someone who is in need before the real professionals can get there."
The kids practiced applying tourniquets and using cotton to stop bleeding.
"I learned a lot about using a tourniquet, and if there's no help and someone is bleeding out, I know what to do," said junior lifeguard Ava Fishburger. "I know to use something like a sock and stuff it in a wound to stop the bleeding. You also have to remember to tell someone to call 911. Yes, we're learning how to save someone's life."
The program’s boosters say the more people know these techniques, the more lives will be saved.
It's really important to get out into the community to have people be aware of this," said Duncan. "If you know, or have the skill to stop bleeding, you may be the first responder, and you may help save a life."
