Bald Eagle Township employees receive training, Stop the Bleed kits

by Christopher Miller

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP, PA – After completing the necessary training, Bald Eagle Township was presented with bleeding control kits last Friday afternoon. Currently the only municipality office in the county to have completed the training, township employees were pleased to receive the training and skills necessary to help control episodes of major bleeding before critical help from local ambulance and EMS arrives.

“The point is to stop the bleeding,” Lock Haven EMS Chief Gerard Banfill explained. “Major bleeds are life threatening, especially from deep cuts or gashes in the legs, those are the worst bleeders, so the more people we can have trained to learn how to stop, or control the bleed, the better off the patient’s results will be.”

But Banfill is not the only person interested in spreading the knowledge and skills for this type of training. It’s actually a family affair.

“This is a community service project for a school class that my daughter Ellen is doing – she’s hoping to do a project like this as her senior project, and today she is educationally shadowing me,” Gerard explained.

The training includes learning how to effectively use a tourniquet, pack a wound, apply pressure, and elevate it to avoid infection. “The key here is to stop and control the bleeding,” Banfill said. “During training, we have mannequins that actually have a blood-like fluid that is being pumped out of the fake wound to simulate the real thing…but if we are practicing on a live human test subject, if the tourniquet doesn’t hurt then you’re not doing it right.”

The tourniquet is the most important part of the training and is included in every kit along with compressed gauze, trauma shears, bandages, medical gloves, and other “field medical” necessities.

“If you use anything, just call me and I will come back out to replace what was used and help repack your kit,” Banfill said.

When it comes to training others, the more the merrier.

“I will come out here at any time to show how to use the kits,” he said. “I will teach it to everybody in the public if I could.”

The funds for the kits come from donations to Lock Haven EMS. “Every dollar donated went into buying supplies like these for the kits,” Banfill explained. “I think it was Lock Haven Catholic School that was trained first on how to use the kits, then the elementary schools and Keystone Central School District as a whole.”

“With over 22 miles of roads throughout the township, there is lots of travel here and there that happen frequently throughout one of the most busiest areas of the county,” Township Supervisor Steve Tasselli said. “As a township, we will be undergoing continuous training on proper health and safety procedures.”

Bald Eagle Township employees are not only trained in Stop the Bleed procedures, but also in basic First Aid and CPR skills, too. In fact, these kits are now located in all Bald Eagle Township equipment, road trucks, and in the general township office.

“Bleeding control is currently the most popular training particularly in construction trades, police, and schools,” said Banfill.

If your municipality or organization is interested in receiving training for Stop the Bleed kits, please contact Gerard Banfill, Lock Haven EMS Chief, at 570-748-1611.