Center for Disaster Medicine Hosts Lifesaving Trainings for Students and Staff
The Training Showed Techniques On How To Stop Severe Bleeding From Injuries and How to Administer Naloxone
The Center for Disaster Medicine (CDM) hosted trainings on May 10 and 12 for more than 70 staff members, students and College public safety officers. The trainings covered Stop the Bleed, which shows how to properly apply tourniquets and gauzes to severe wounds, and the administration of naloxone, a drug used to help reverse opioid overdoses.
As part of National Stop, the Bleed month in May, the CDM offered the training to staff and students from the School of Medicine, Graduate Basic Medical Sciences and School of Health Sciences and Practice on May 12. The event, which had more than 50 participants, was held in conjunction with the Scientista Foundation Club and Student Health Care Executives (StuHE). All members of New York Medical College’s (NYMC) Office of Public Safety—including more than 20 officers, along with Robert Lancia, M.A., director of public safety, and assistant directors Kim Bologna and Charles Longo—received the training. Officers have also received CPR, first aid and defibrillation training from CDM staff.
“NYMC public safety officers have been called to handle a variety of medical emergencies on campus. Even though our campus is filled with established, as well as future medical professionals, public safety officers are usually the first to respond to an emergency. Proper treatment in those first few minutes of an emergency could make a big difference,” Mr. Lancia said.
The naloxone training was offered by CDM in partnership with Westchester County Department of Health on May 10, where more than 20 staff and students attended.
“I am pleased to see that staff and students have taken an interest in these life-saving techniques which might make a difference at a moment’s notice. We never know when an emergency may occur so we need to improve our level of preparedness so that we can be ready to respond when needed,” said George W. Contreras, MEP, M.P.H., M.S., CEM, assistant director of the CDM and assistant professor at the Institute of Public Health. “The trainings we offer can be used by anyone, so I hope that more faculty, staff and students take advantage of these free opportunities at NYMC.”
The CDM has experienced large turnouts for its various lifesaving trainings, as similar trainings held during National Public Health Week had more than 80 participants.
