Outreach Aims to Prevent Loss of Life from Violent Crime or Serious Accidents
LSU School of Medicine Surgery and Emergency Medicine doctors and medical students hosted a free STOP THE BLEED® Workshop recently at the Rosenwald Recreation Center.
Approximately 50 community members attended the workshop to learn how to stop serious
wound bleeding from penetrating trauma associated with injuries such as gunshot wounds
until the injured person can receive medical attention. After completing the lifesaving
training, participants received certification.
The program is designed to help address community violence with the understanding
that a bleeding injury can happen anywhere. Life-threatening bleeding can occur in
people injured in serious accidents or violent crimes. Instead of being limited to
being a witness, those trained can become immediate responders because they know how
to STOP THE BLEED®.
The STOP THE BLEED® Workshop grew out of Emergency Medicine Resident Dr. Michael Okoronkwo’s
outreach at the Rosenwald Center last summer. He led weekly Health & Hoops with Docs,
which used basketball to teach psychosocial resilience against violent risks to local
adolescents.
“Medical student volunteers and I would wear our scrubs while we played to encourage their imaginations as to what types of careers are open to them,” Okoronkwo said.
Medical students Michael Alfred and Kevin Hardy volunteered as mentors and became
leaders of the Health & Hoops with Docs outreach, which ultimately led to the STOP
THE BLEED® Workshop.
“Educational events like these foster a unified goal of health and wellness between community members and the physicians serving those communities. Health & Hoops with Docs and STOP THE BLEED® are building trust between us, which in turn helps us improve health outcomes,” Okoronkwo said.
News coverage of the event is available here.