The Greene County Public Health Department is hosting a program that will teach people how to help others who are involved in traumatic events.

According to GCPH, their agency is part of a ten-county emergency coalition organization that provides training and kits to use in case of situations where someone is bleeding from an incident. Director Shelby Cooklin addressed the Greene County Board of Supervisors in early May about the program called, “Stop the Bleed.”

“Stop the Bleed is an initiative that was started by the National Trauma Surgeons because the number one cause of bleeding in people 1-46 years old is bleeding through trauma. So this just teaches people and provides them the tools to stop the bleed if they come across that or if something to someone. So, obviously the more people that are trained, the more useful these kits are.”   

Cooklin said the kits have items such as gloves, gauze, bandages, tourniquets, and trauma bandages. She explained that during the training, they show participants how to use the gauze effectively, what to look for when assessing a wound and how to best stop the bleeding. She added that there are kits currently in each building within the two school districts and all school nurses are trained. 

Cooklin said the next phase is to train county employees so there can be kits within the Greene County Courthouse, as well as some Greene County Fair Board members and others who use the Greene County Fairgrounds. To that end, GCPH is also hosting its final public training session on Wednesday at 6pm at the Maude E. Marchant Memorial Library in Scranton. To register for the class, contact GCPH at 515-386-3228.