While setting goals to eat healthier, exercise more or lose weight is important, why not aim for something even more impactful?
Consider learning how to save a life.
The skills you gain from attending a Stop the Bleed or CPR workshop, or taking a little time out of your day to donate blood, can make a significant impact in emergencies. These actions not only enhance your ability to respond in critical situations and offer life-saving support but also complement your overall health and wellness journey.
Attend a Stop the Bleed workshop
Uncontrolled bleeding is the number one cause of preventable death from trauma, said Cindy Joseph, trauma outreach and education manager for UCHealth in northern Colorado.
“A person can lose almost all their blood volume in under five minutes — that’s the biggest motivating factor in learning Step the Bleed concepts and skills,” Joseph said.
Throughout northern and southern Colorado, people can sign up for a free, 50-minute Stop the Bleed course that provides education about skills needed in an emergency.
Be prepared: Learn to Stop the Bleed during a free workshop
UCHealth wants to educate as many Coloradans as possible on how to stop uncontrolled bleeding in emergencies. Find a workshop nearby that works with your schedule.
Joseph’s team has seen firsthand how knowledge is power.
At a local job site, workers were able to pack and put pressure on a co-worker’s large wound. It stopped the bleeding enough to buy time for emergency medical personnel to arrive. The workers’ knowledge and their actions saved the man’s life. In another case, bystanders encountered a motorcycle accident and applied pressure to the rider’s wound to stop his bleeding. That person also survived.
“Someone could see uncontrolled, life-threatening hemorrhage in any area of the body. They could see an injury in an extremity, groin, armpit and head. These are areas where learning how to control hemorrhage could save a life,” Joseph said.
And hands-on practice is essential. “It may sound like a simple thing to control a life-threatening hemorrhage, but a tourniquet and wound packing aren’t as intuitive as they may seem,” she said.
Just like CPR, Stop the Bleed skills must be learned and rehearsed before an emergency strikes.
Sign up to donate blood
Knowing how to stop bleeding can save someone’s life, but patients may also need donated blood to stay alive.
Donors can use the online donor portal to schedule donation appointments at any of UCHealth’s blood donor centers or through blood drives in northern Colorado. The portal, an interactive system, also allows donors to look up their blood type, check their last donation date and gallon total, and learn of upcoming mobile blood drive opportunities.
To schedule a donation, create a new account on the donor portal or call 970.495.8965.
Outside of northern Colorado? Find a blood donation center near you.
UCHealth Garth Englund Blood Donation Center makes it easy to donate blood with three locations throughout northern Colorado:
- Fort Collins – 1025 Pennock Place
- Loveland – 2500 Rocky Mountain Ave. (inside Medical Center of the Rockies)
- Greeley – 6906 W. 10th St.
The blood products donated through Garth Englund help patients at UCHealth’s Longs Peak Hospital in Longmont, Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, UCHealth Greeley Hospital and Estes Park Medical Center.
A single trauma patient can need upward of 80 units. People also need blood products for cancer treatments and other medical conditions.
Learn CPR
A person experiencing cardiac arrest outside of a hospital is almost twice as likely to survive when someone performs CPR while emergency personnel are en route, according to the Journal of the American Heart Association. Sadly, fewer than 40% of people who experience cardiac arrest receive bystander CPR.
Why learn hands-only CPR?
- Cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death. Hands-Only CPR performed by a bystander is as effective as conventional CPR in the first few minutes of cardiac arrest outside of a hospital.
- Survival may depend upon immediately getting CPR from someone nearby.
- 90% of people who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests die. CPR, especially if performed immediately, can double or triple the chance of survival.
- Hands-only CPR has been shown to be as effective as conventional CPR for cardiac arrest at home, work or in public.
- 70% of out-of-hospital cardiac events happen in homes and residential settings.
Studies show that training early and often, beginning with middle and high school students, creates a culture of action that prepares and motivates people to help when someone has a cardiac arrest.
UCHealth collaborates with Poudre Fire Authority, PulsePoint and UCHealth EMS to teach hands-only CPR and AED use to seventh- and 10th-graders in its Healthy Hearts and Minds education and screening program.
Participants learn the signs of a heart attack and stroke symptoms and act out real-life scenarios to practice techniques. Biofeedback manikins let students know if they are pushing deeply and quickly enough.
Practicing these skills and making the conscious decision that you will help if needed is an essential step to learning these lifesaving skills.