By Seth Goldstein, Director of Training & Education at Mobilize Rescue Systems and a career firefighter & paramedic in Upstate New York
In light of recent tragic events, organizations across the country are training civilians to respond to potential mass casualty events.
Inspired by the Hartford Consensus III and the Department of Homeland Security’s Stop the Bleed and Until Help Arrives initiatives, hospitals, community centers, and Community Emergency Response Teams (C.E.R.T.) have been offering bleeding control training courses to equip civilians with knowledge to manage gunshot wounds.
In addition, Public Access bleeding control kits with tourniquets, clotting agents, pressure dressings, and other bleeding control supplies are being made readily available.
Despite these proactive efforts, there is still the question of how to effectively train enough civilians to respond to the estimated 30,000 preventable traumatic deaths taking place each year.
Unfortunately, like traditional First Aid, CPR, or AED training, bleeding control courses are time consuming, expensive, and do not guarantee that the trainee will remember how to provide quality medical care in the heat of the moment – especially under the threat of an active shooter.
With only seconds to make life-or- death decisions, there is a huge burden placed on the shoulders of civilians to respond to such a scenario.
(How do you effectively and efficiently empower your community to save lives in the event of an unthinkable medical emergency? The Mobilize Rescue Systems’ Public Access Bleeding Control Stations, paired with the innovative Mobilize Rescue App, make it possible for untrained bystanders to confidently save lives while they wait for the professional responders to arrive. Courtesy of Mobilize Rescue Systems and Vimeo)
Fortunately, new technology can help fill in the gaps to make things easier on the organizations preparing for emergencies and the civilians expected to manage the situation until the professional first responders arrive.
The Mobilize Rescue System is a new technology designed to help bystanders save lives while they wait for the ambulance
The system seamlessly integrates a diagnostic app with medical supplies, so that even untrained bystanders can provide quality medical care according to current medical practices.
Since the Mobilize Rescue technology makes providing medical care so easy, the focus of mass casualty training can be on how to avoid, escape, or confront an active shooter and how to use situational awareness to provide care under fire.
The Mobilize Rescue App Ensures Training Retention
Research has shown that the effectiveness of first aid and CPR training decreases over time.
In a study involving medical and nursing students attending an instructor-led CPR course, roughly 67% of students failed the hands-on skills exam 90 days after the course; the failure rate soared to 91% at the one-year mark.
The Mobilize Rescue app, on the other hand, will show a civilian exactly what to do during a medical emergency regardless of training.
(Mobilize Rescue Systems is transforming bystander administered first aid, forever. Because of the unique integration of modern medical supplies with an innovative app, the Mobilize Rescue System will empower bystanders to respond to an emergency while they wait for professional responders to arrive. Courtesy of Mobilize Rescue Systems and Vimeo)
The app can be used as a ‘just-in- time’ training tool for untrained bystanders or as a training refresher tool for civilians who’ve already taken a bleeding control, first aid, CPR, or AED course.
The app relieves civilians of the pressure of having to remember current medical protocols, so they can focus on using situational awareness during an active shooter scenario to make sure they are safe while they administer care to victims at the scene.
The Mobilize Rescue Systems App Creates Responders Quickly
By distributing the app to an entire community, organization or school, massive groups of willing bystanders can be empowered overnight.
For example, the Gates-Chili School District in Rochester, New York deployed the Mobilize Rescue Systems in early 2017 to its 4,850+ students, staff, and faculty.
Over 100 bus drivers successfully installed the app on their phones and completed a brief orientation in under 30-minutes.
In less than an hour, all 92 buses were with life-saving medical supplies and the drivers in the district were equipped to respond.
To use traditional methods to teach first aid and CPR to 100 individuals, instead of using the Mobilize Rescue System, it would take days or weeks of class time for the initial
training (not counting the refresher training that would be required every 2 years).
The Mobilize Rescue App’s Uses Extend Beyond Active Shooter Scenarios to Everyday
Life
While active shooter situations garner headlines, the average American is still unlikely to
encounter such a catastrophe.
With that knowledge, the Mobilize Rescue Systems was designed to excel at everyday emergencies.
Seizures, sudden cardiac arrest, allergic reactions, broken bones and more recently, opiate overdoses are far more likely to be encountered by a willing bystander.
Assessment and treatment instructions for these and other common emergencies are built into the Mobilize Rescue app.
It’s similar to providing the materials covered in a CPR/AED, Advanced First Aid, TECC, Naloxone training, and EpiPen training all in one simple application that can run on the phone you carry with you everywhere.
Moving Forward with New Technology and Improved Expectations for Care
Technological advancements have been shaping and reshaping our world for hundreds of
years.
As with science, math, transportation and so many other areas, medicine has been and will continue to be influenced by emerging technology.
But in order for technology to be used to its fullest potential, it needs to be adopted by industry leaders who are willing to expand on the traditional training model.
The long hours in the classroom, practice of skills and standardized evaluations have saved lives in the past.
But with new technology empowering civilians who don’t have the luxury of practicing those skills repeatedly, we might find that these bystanders are in the best position to have the greatest impact.
National Stop The Bleed Day
WHEN: March 31, 2018
WHERE: Across the Nation, and around the world!
ABOUT THE EVENT: The top cause of preventable death in trauma is bleeding.
20% of people who have died from traumatic injuries could have survived with quick bleeding control.
National Stop The Bleed Day brings Bleeding Control (B-CON) Instructors and students together for a day of training.
Free of charge.
The Mobilize Rescue System has been implemented by federal and law enforcement agencies, security and investigations agencies, K-12 schools and universities, public and private organizations, and has already been used to manage multiple medical emergencies across the country.
Mobilize Rescue Systems’ team of medical professionals, military veterans, and technology engineers integrated modern medical supplies and an innovative app into a cohesive unit, the Mobilize Rescue System.
This unique integration of knowledge and equipment provides an intuitive platform for untrained bystanders to assess and manage a variety of medical emergencies, such as severe bleeding, allergic reactions, cardiac arrest and more – while medical professionals are en route.
