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On the medical front, and in direct response to the shooting in Newtown, a national campaign called “Stop the Bleed” began. Through lectures and hands-on training, instructors teach adults and students how to apply tourniquets, pack wounds and keep the situation stable until first responders can arrive.
The campaign is an initiative of the American College of Surgeons and the Hartford Consensus, a set of recommendations on active shooter and other mass casualty events.
“The paramedics aren’t going to get there right away,” said Dr. Thomas Scalea, physician-in-chief at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, and one of the campaign’s instructors.
According to the American College of Surgeons, people with severe injuries can bleed to death within five minutes. “This is a disease of time. The clock starts ticking when you get hurt, not when you get to the hospital,” Scalea said.