By EMS1 Staff
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A group of teachers responded to the increasing threat of mass shootings by training in first responder skills in case of an emergency.
NBC4 reported that Grant Hospital Trauma Outreach coordinator Stacey Wickham trained 38 teachers from South-Western Schools Career Academy on how to stop bleeding with tourniquets and pack bullet wounds as part of their effort to become more than bystanders in a potential shooting.
“Bleeding is the number one cause in death of trauma patients, and especially life-threatening bleeding. So a person can bleed out in three to five minutes,” Wickham said.
Wickham added that the skills she taught the teachers could be the difference between life and death in a shooting situation.
“They are like my own children. That is how I view them every day when they walk through my door,” teacher Nicki Ragusa said. “They are in my care and I have to do absolutely everything I can to keep them safe.”
Ragusa, a 30-year teaching veteran, said despite having to adapt and train for dangerous situations, it doesn’t help to dwell on the negativity.
“You can’t look at that every day or you would be afraid to walk through your own door, so you keep it in the forefront and you have a plan in mind and hopefully you never have to use it,” she said.