Riverside Community Hospital has joined with the Department of Defense, National Security Council and American College of Surgeons, in the national Stop the Bleed Public Awareness campaign. “Stop the Bleed” is a government-launched initiative to help reduce the number of preventable deaths from uncontrolled bleeding by training bystanders bleeding control techniques.
Riverside Community Hospital is a Level ll Trauma Center and one of the largest trauma facilities in the Inland Empire. Since the hospital’s partnership earlier this year with the campaign, Riverside Community Hospital’s Trauma Service–Injury Prevention has been actively providing free monthly training to hospital staff and public entities such as local schools, colleges, and large organizations who are high targets for mass casualties or active shooters. Riverside Community Hospital was the first hospital in the Inland Empire to actively promote the Stop the Bleed initiative.
“In cases of mass casualty or traumatic events such as motor vehicle accidents, it takes time for first responders and paramedics to arrive. However, with education and training, bystanders can now help save a life by stopping uncontrollable bleeding through the use of these techniques until the Emergency Medical Services team arrives,” says Wendy McEuen, RN, Riverside Community Hospital Trauma Injury Prevention Outreach Coordinator.
In 2017, Riverside Community Hospital began providing education and training on the Stop the Bleed campaign to organizations such as the Riverside Community College Norco Campus, Centennial, Rancho Verde, Arlington and Ramona High Schools, Riverside Community Hospital Public Safety Officers and Riverside County Public Health’s Injury Prevention Team. According to the World Health Organization, uncontrolled bleeding is the number one cause of preventable death from trauma. During training, participants learn how to help those in need, as well as how to stop their own bleeding.
“We are also very excited to announce our partnership with our local Riverside Police Department in the Stop the Bleed Campaign as we train our law enforcement officers, who in most cases are the first to arrive to the scene of an accident,” says Wendy McEuen.
“Our plan is to train and educate each of our officers on how to stop the bleed and ensure they are equipped with Stop the Bleed kits for use in an emergency. Each Stop the Bleed kit contains one pair of protective gloves, hemostatic bleeding control dressing, compression bandage and a C-A-T™ tourniquet,” said Riverside Police Department Chief Diaz.
As one of the busiest Level ll Trauma Centers in the region, Riverside Community Hospital understands they have a responsibility to teach others preventative measures and how to help save lives. “We believe the more awareness and education we can bring to those in the community, the more lives that can be saved,” says Georgi Collins, AVP Trauma Services, Far West Division, HCA.
About Riverside Community Hospital
Founded in 1901, Riverside Community Hospital is a 373- licensed bed, full-service acute care hospital in the heart of the Inland Empire. RCH has been recognized as a Top Performing Hospital and has invested in a major campus expansion project that includes a new 7-story patient tower, 3-story medical office building, and a recently completed new 5-level parking garage. With over 500 physicians on staff, representing over 200 specialties and over 1,900 employees, Riverside Community Hospital is an Inland Empire leader in providing advanced, comprehensive health care to the Inland region. RCH houses one of the largest Emergency Room and Trauma Center in the Inland Empire at 50 treatment rooms. RCH is the largest STEMI (heart attack) receiving center and is a fully accredited Chest Pain Center. Centers of Excellence include the HeartCare Institute, offering invasive and non-invasive cardiac procedures, Center of Excellence for Surgical Weight Loss, the Transplant Program, the Cancer Center and a Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Riverside Community Hospital is also committed to training the next generation of physicians through its Graduate Medical Education program.