By: Imogen Francis/Staff Writer
When a mass shooting happens and professionals cannot immediately be on the scene, bystanders can play an important role in saving lives.
The Student Government Council at the Modesto Maidique campus has decided to equip their members and students with life-saving emergency medicine skills by holding a Stop the Bleed training on Wednesday, Feb. 27 in GC 150 from 4 p.m. to 5: 30 p.m.
Students will learn how to apply hands-only CPR and tourniquets to help those injured in the event of a mass shooting.
Bridget Pelaez, assistant director at the Department of Emergency Management, will be teaching the training. She said her goal with this workshop is to give people the confidence to help those in need when it counts.
“It’s one of the most important lectures that I provide because I feel that it impacts people immediately. They immediately walk out feeling like they understand a little bit more about what they’re supposed to do in the event that there is an active shooter,” said Pelaez.
After attending a previous Stop the Bleed workshop as a disaster volunteer, Ilan Timerman, SGC-MMC’s secretary of transportation and safety, said he thought it was important for fellow Student Government members and students to be taught the life-saving skills he had learned, so he asked Pelaez to hold a training for all students.
“If we want the students to actually be prepared themselves, then we as representatives of the students should be prepared as well,” said Timerman.
In the past, the University has had active shooter trainings, but they were focused on faculty and staff rather than students. Previous trainings also included an active shooter simulation and medical training.
Stop the Bleed is the first of its kind to be offered to students and will not feature a full simulation. Rather, it focuses on the medical techniques that can be used in the event of a mass shooting, said Timerman.
Pelaez said that she will begin the workshop by teaching everyone how to safely use the instruments and then give students the opportunity to put what they learned to practice.
In particular, students will learn how to safely apply a tourniquet, which is a tight band that restricts blood flow to an injury.
“We understand that as a University we need to safeguard our students and, in my opinion, maybe it’s because I am a disaster nurse, the best way to safeguard somebody is to prepare them with a set of skills, so they no longer feel that all they have is fear,” said Pelaez.
SGA invites the FIU community to attend a ‘Stop the Bleed’ training to educate on how to use life-saving emergency medicine skills in the event of a school shooting. Graphic provided by SGC-BBC.
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