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Carilion Steps Up Trauma Education Efforts

Mike Stevens, City of Salem

A Roanoke hospital has been involved in trauma education for a while.  But the increase in mass shootings and similar incidents that require quick medical attention have changed the mission a bit. Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital Trauma Outreach Coordinator Sarah Beth Dinwiddie recently met with about 300 students at Salem High School, showing them how to pack a wound and apply a tourniquet before emergency personnel can arrive on the scene. 

The national ‘Stop the Bleed’ campaign is promoted by the American College of Surgeons.

Salem freshman Hannah Gibson wants to become a pediatric nurse, and felt pretty good about the early practice.

“She didn’t really correct me that much or anything, so I feel like I did a good job," she said.

Sophomore Zach Hoyer says you never know where practical experience can come in handy, so he prepped before class that day.

"I just went to a lot of different web sites and learned how to do it," he said.

Dinwiddie taught about 300 total students that day.  She says they responded well to the training, and asked good questions.

"When they come in, it’s kind of like, 'Oh, we’re doing something else again today," she said. "But then when they leave the room, they’re just empowered to be able to save a life, and know if they were to walk up on an emergency situation, they have a few steps, and a few tools in their belt, that they can actually make a difference.”

Credit Jeff Bossert
The 'trauma bay' at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital

With the school year ending, Dinwiddie says she’ll spend more time taking her lessons to large businesses, convention centers, and Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport. 

She says business leaders from nearby cities like Lynchburg and Charlottesville have come to Roanoke, and taken 'Stop the Bleed' lessons back to their cities.

While mass casualties incidents like school shootings have brought attention to these courses, she says the skills are more likely to be used in more common incidents, like car chrashes or accidents in the workplace. 

Jeff Bossert is Radio IQ's Morning Edition host.