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Death from the loss of blood that occurs due to a traumatic injury can occur in less than 5 minutes.
When disaster strikes, you don’t need to be a health professional to save a life. In fact, your ability to perform these life-savings technique during the first few minutes before an emergency first-responder arrives on the scene could be what makes the difference!
There are 3 main types of bleeding that can occur:
- Arterial Bleed – you will see bright red blood spurting out from the wound
- Venueous Bleed – you will see dark red blood oozing out from the wound
- Capillary Bleed – blood trickles or gathers slowly and usually clots on its own
Life-saving techniques to control bleeding:
The goal is to help the body’s clotting mechanisms to clot off and stop the bleeding. The first thing you will do to attempt to control the bleeding is apply direct pressure using a 4×4 gauze pad and then tightly wrap it with a kerlex rollar bandage.
(Any basic first-aid kit will contain the materials needed to perform this first technique, but if you don’t have a first aid kit available, any cloth will do! You can also purchase a Premium Plus Bleed Control Kit HERE.)
You may be tempted to lift the bandage up to check and see if the bleeding has stopped bleeding – DON’T DO THAT! Leave the bandage on until the victim can get medical attention. If the bleeding seeps through the gauze, add more 4×4 squares on top of the soaked bandage and wrap over them again.
In the case of severe bleeding that won't stop...
An additional life-saving technique that you can employ is the use of a tourniquet.
Position the tourniquet above the area that is bleeding on the extremity and twist the windless several times, then tuck it underneath the clamp. There is also a place to write the time that tourniquet was put in place.
Watch the video above for a demonstration of both of these life-saving techniques to control severe bleeding and help save a life.
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