Orlando Health Level One Trauma Team and Orange County Office of the EMS Medical Director launched bleeding control training to help save lives following man-made or natural mass casualty events

Orlando, FL (February 20, 2017) – Car crashes, workplace or at home injuries or falls, or mass casualty incidents. All can cause life threatening critical bleeding injuries. Today, Orlando Health Level One Trauma Team and Orange County Office of the EMS Medical Director launched Stop the Bleed, a national call to provide special bleeding control training to first responders and civilian bystanders to help save lives following man-made or natural mass casualty events. Controlling bleeding not only helps save lives, it also helps to improve the quality of life for injured patients.

Hosted at Orlando Regional Medical Center, the launch provided an overview of the Stop the Bleed initiative, along with a simulation learning demonstration of how a bleeding control kit can be used to stop bleeding after an injury. Bleeding control kits, or B-Con Kits as they are referred to, include: gloves, tourniquet (s), gauze coated with special medication to help with clotting, pressure bandage/compression application. The demonstration also included the ABCs of responding for bleeding: A for Alert, call 9-1-1; B for Bleeding, find the bleeding injury; and C for Compress, apply pressure by various techniques including a tourniquet or packing the wound.

The event included remarks from Mark Jones, Senior Vice President, Orlando Health, and President, Orlando Regional Medical Center; Dr. Joseph Ibrahim, Trauma Medical Director, ORMC; Dr. Michael Cheatham, Chief Surgical Quality Officer, ORMC; Dr. George Ralls, Orange County EMS Medical Director, Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs, and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. Special guests included Orlando Police Chief John Mina, Orlando Fire Chief Roderick Williams, and Orange County Fire Chief Otto Drozd III.

As part of the Stop the Bleed initiative, the Orange County Office of the EMS Medical Director is a National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians training site for the B-Con education partnering with Orlando Health to train the community. Orlando Health physicians are training providers within Orlando Health and throughout the community.

“As a Level One Trauma Center, we see firsthand the impact of life threatening bleeding. We also know how much the difference between a life and death moment can depend on how quickly bleeding is controlled, and the difference in the type of recovery a person may have,” said Dr. Joseph Ibrahim, Trauma Medical Director, ORMC. “Orlando Health looks forward to working with Orange County EMS Office of the Medical Director to help prepare our community to help save lives when the need arises,”
“Time and time again we’ve witnessed the critical life-saving role bystanders play during emergencies. Like CPR training, widespread bleeding control education throughout our community can make us safer and better prepared to help one another in an extreme time of need. The Orange County Emergency Medical Services Office of the Medical Director is excited to partner with the Orlando Health Trauma Team on this effort,” says Orange County’s EMS Medical Director Dr. George Ralls.

The Stop the Bleed training is comprised of a one to two hour class on bleeding control education and information program targeted to civilians that will inform, educate, and empower citizens in the community. Orlando Health and Orange County will reach out to various organizations in the community with information on future Stop the Bleed training opportunities. For additional information about training, send an email to [email protected].
The Stop the Bleed initiative is in response to a national call motivated by the tragedy at Sandy Hook and multiple tragedies including those experienced in Orlando. After Sandy Hook, what was known as the Hartford Consensus was convened to bring together leaders from law enforcement, the federal government, and the medical community to improve survivability from man-made or natural mass casualty events. The resulting injuries from these events usually present with severe bleeding, which left unattended, can result in death. Thus, the Hartford Consensus concluded that by providing bleeding control to first responders such as law enforcement and civilian bystanders, lives could be saved.



About Orlando Health
Orlando Health is a $2.6 billion not-for-profit health care organization and a community-based network of physician practices, hospitals, and outpatient care centers throughout Central Florida. The organization is home to the area’s only Level One Trauma Centers for adults and pediatrics and is a statutory teaching hospital system that offers both specialty and community hospitals. More than 2,000 physicians have privileges at Orlando Health, which is also one of the area’s largest employers with more than 18,000 employees who serve nearly 2 million Central Florida residents and more than 4,500 international patients annually. Additionally, Orlando Health provides more than $204 million in support of community health need. More information can be found at www.orlandohealth.com.

Orange County Office of the EMS Medical Director
The Office of the EMS Medical Director provides medical oversight, quality improvement, compliance, disaster support, and training (including administrative oversight to formalized training such as Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Prehospital Trauma Life Support) to the participating EMS agencies that respond to 911 calls within Orange County. There are 12 employees in the division.