White Plains Hospital eases effects of community violence
Stop the Bleed is a national public awareness campaign that was launched by the White House in 2015 with the goal of improving victim survival rates following mass shootings and other intentional acts of violence. In 2018, White Plains Hospital formalized an STB training program to help create safer communities and provide individuals with the skills needed to potentially save a life during an emergency.
The training program focused on two cohorts:
- developing master trainers to sustain the program by educating and training others — instruction included wound packing and tourniquet placement on high-fidelity mannequins in the White Plains Hospital simulation lab; and
- developing community champions by offering basic STB training to community members to empower them to help in emergency situations. Over the past few years, White Plains Hospital has worked with the Greenburgh Police Department and local school districts to teach wound packing and tourniquet placement on an artificial limb.
STB aligns with the New York state Prevention Agenda priority area, “Injuries, Violence and Occupational Health.” The goal is to reduce violence by targeting prevention programs to high-risk populations. STB correlates with efforts to increase school-based and community programs in conflict resolution, bystander interventions and healthy relationship building. STB reinforces this by helping participants safely intervene in a crisis. The hospital aimed to improve the program by introducing simulation and experiential learning to enhance outcomes, which was shown to be more impactful than static programming alone.
White Plains Hospital has created partnerships with more than 18 public schools, universities and community centers from Long Island to Westchester to Binghamton. Since the initial training, the White Plains School District has implemented annual competency requirements to ensure all trained staff continue to sharpen their skills — as well as train new staff members. Additionally, to help with this effort and to prepare the White Plains School District in the event of an emergency, the hospital donated STB kits to the schools. The kits include tourniquets and wound packing equipment.
For more information, contact Anna Ritacco, director, community outreach, at aritacco@wphospital.org or (914) 849-2556.
