DOUGHERTY COUNTY, Ga. — Vansh Patel who lost his arm in a fatal crash, is now partnering with Phoebe Putney Health System and Dougherty County EMS to help teach courses on how to stop severe bleeding.
The lifesaving skills Patel is now sharing are the same ones used to save him, WALB reported.
Just hours after his graduation in 2024, Patel was a passenger in a crash. The driver, also a 2024 Deerfield graduate, died at the scene. But before paramedics arrived at the crash scene, a friend of Patel’s, who had recently completed a Stop the Bleed course with Dougherty County EMS, was already there.
“A simple tourniquet class that would have taken 30 minutes was enough to save my life that day,” Patel said.
Just over a year later, Patel is now helping teach Stop the Bleed classes to students.
Launched in 2017 by the Georgia Trauma Commission, Stop the Bleed aims to equip schools to respond to emergencies, including active shooter situations. Dougherty County EMS introduced the training in local classrooms and distributed 250 bleeding control kits to public schools for use by safety staff, law enforcement and bus drivers.
Phoebe Putney Health System expanded the program to private schools such as Sherwood and Deerfield-Windsor, which each now have six kits on-site. The 45-minute course covers critical skills like wound packing and proper tourniquet use.
