Westerville Central High School senior Payton McCarthy wants to be a nurse. She plans to get her degree from The Ohio State University. She also possesses some stellar leadership skills, as evidenced by an event she organized for her school on April 2 – Stop the Bleed training for students, staff and parents. McCarthy received this training last summer at West Chester Hospital, where she was attending the Exploring Healthcare Careers Camp. This initiative provides lifesaving skills and materials in preparation for an emergency in which first responders are unable to reach injured persons immediately.
McCarthy first proposed her idea of bringing Stop the Bleed to Central during a meeting of the Superintendent’s Advisory Committee, conducted by Dr. John Kellogg to give students a voice in the Westerville City School District. She wrote and received a generous $3,000 grant from the Westerville Education Foundation (WEF) to buy 100 tourniquets which will be placed in the school’s EJAM Go Buckets, containers in every room that are filled with toiletries and first aid items to be used in case of a long-term emergency lock down. The grant, made possible by WEF sponsors such as Mount Carmel St. Ann’s and Education First Credit Union, will supply a high-quality medical tourniquet for each Westerville Central classroom.
McCarthy realized the tourniquets were of little value unless people knew how to use them, so she teamed up with Assistant Principal Brad Adams to bring Stop the Bleed training to Westerville Central. “I learned that the majority of deaths related to trauma injuries are not from the injuries themselves but from blood loss. Therefore, it is imperative to educate teachers and students to take action, help the wounded, and save lives.”
“The addition of tourniquets to our emergency supplies is a great idea,” said Westerville City School District Superintendent Dr. John Kellogg. “I give Payton a lot of credit for not just bringing this idea to our attention, but for pursuing a way to make it a reality.”
On April 2, medical professionals from OhioHealth, along with a number of Genoa Township firefighters, gathered in room 2301 to meet with and provide free training for 50 individuals in how to stop bleeding after an injury. OhioHealth Grant Medical Center trauma surgeon Dr. Keshav Deshpande got the ball rolling with a slide show presentation, which was followed by hands-on practice for each participant.
Though McCarthy is graduating this year, she hopes that this pilot program will not only continue year after year at Westerville Central, but will expand districtwide. “This project is self-sustaining,” she said. “The tourniquets will not require maintenance and will stay in each classroom in case of an emergency and OhioHealth will continue to offer free classes to interested students and staff.”
Stop the Bleed is a national awareness campaign and call-to-action. It is intended to cultivate grassroots efforts that encourage bystanders to become trained, equipped, and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives. In response to increased gun violence and mass casualty events in the country, the White House and the Department of Homeland Security created “Stop the Bleed,” a national campaign to help improve survival from life-threatening bleeding.