An Odessa doctor is on cnn saying every American needs to learn how to compress a gunshot wound

[Demovictory9]

Link to tweet

Rep. Eric Swalwell
@RepSwalwell
An #OdessaShooting doctor is on
@cnn
telling Americans every one of us needs to learn how to compress a gunshot wound. “It’s not a matter of if...” That’s where we are. What sick hell is this? #EnoughIsEnough

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. And how exactly are we all supposed to learn this?

I suppose they can have a class for those still in school, but how about us adults?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

22. Look for "emergency trauma care" classes; companies in your area that focus on risk assessment,

security, professional arms instruction, self-defense and so on may offer these kinds of classes. You can ask straight-out whether the class includes gunshot wound response, and what training protocol they use.

[SMC22307]

25. "Stop the Bleed" classes at your local hospital or EMS. (n/t)

[underpants]

27. Cover the wound. Keep pressur in it. Elevate it above the heart if possible.

If it's a sucking chest wound use plastic to create a seal before covering the wound with dressing.

Army basic training

[aikoaiko]

48. Its not hard. I keep this in my car.

https://www.rescue-essentials.com/halo-chest-seal/

?c=2&imbypass=on

It's like a giant sticker.


Also, tourniquet technology has improved a whole lot, too.

https://www.rescue-essentials.com/swat-t-tourniquet-black-or-orange/

?c=2&imbypass=on

[JudyM]

52. Interesting!

Got me thinking about ordering these.

[rampartc]

2. it is basic first aid

if you never have to use it so much the better.

every American should know cpr as well, the Heimlich maneuver, snake bite, shock, heat exhaustion etc etc etc.

[lunatica]

6. I saved a woman once with the Heimlich maneuver

It worked but it really scared me. I was shaking badly afterwards, but she was alive.

[Liberty Belle]

9. I saved my son with Heimlich maneuver, too. I'd only seen it on TV, never had a class.

We were at home and my son, 10, was choking on a pizza crust and turning blue. I knew there was no time to wait for an ambulance. So glad it worked!

[mucifer]

12. My mom saved me with it when I was a little kid

[Tiggeroshii]

3. I took a combat life saver course for the Army Reserve.

The next day Parkland happened. My wife is a teacher in LA and you bet your ass I taught her everything I learned that night.

[dweller]

4. it is the sick hell we are in

where a simple human kindness in plugging a gunshot wound in a stranger, or a loved one ... or a 17 month old child is a loving last minute act...

face it, we're on a battlefield for survival 😔

sadly,
✌🏼

[Initech]

5. No!!!!! I don't want to learn how to compress or sew gunshot wounds!

I want to get the fucking guns off the god damn streets!!! How about we prevent future bloodshed instead of trying to pass it off as an inevitability? Every time we do that, the gun nuts win. Every fucking time!

[sinkingfeeling]

21. +1000

[Canoe52]

28. +1,000,000

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

32. I feel exactly the same way.

We shouldn't all have to be EMTs just to go about or normal lives.

What we need is to get rid of the guns. Period.

I'm sick of the claim that people need guns because they might encounter a bear or rattlesnake (another thread here, and apparently about five people per year die from bears or rattlesnakes in this country) or to defend against an intruder, opening up the cheerful possibility of shooting your own teenage daughter when she sneaks in late at night or that someone in the home uses that gun to kill themself.

Other countries don't have a ludicrously armed citizenry and are not losing vast swathes of their population to bears, rattlesnakes, intruders, or the like.

[smirkymonkey]

37. +1000

Exactly! Fuck this! So now they all want us to train like we are on a damn battlefield?

This is insane! Do something about the damn guns, the NRA and the politicians who enable this madness instead!

[DavidDvorkin]

53. Right!

[Newest Reality]

54. Really...

This is getting back to normalizing it rather than solving what's behind it.

Oh, sure, it is good to know how to compress wounds, but the idea that everyone in the US needs to know that because they may have to do it after a shooting incident is what is most troubling.

We may as well all learn how to treat radiation sickness, too.

[aikoaiko]

55. If it makes you feel better -- the same techniques work for wounds from other causes.

Like someone running with scissors, falls, impales self, and then removes scissors.

[procon]

7. There's only one solution: tough gun control laws.

Severely restrict who can pocess (not merely buy) a gun. Require periodic relicensing, retraining and demonstrable marksmanship skills. Proof of adequate liabilty insurance would be a prerequisite for purchase and licensing.

Turn them in, buy them back, slap on the harshest penalties for scofflaws. If the constionionalists demand their guns then let them have the same black powder guns that were available to our Founding Fathers.

I'm damn sick and tired of how the majority of non-gun owning citizens have to bunker in to protect ourselves from the gun nuts. I don't want to live in a Mad Max world where the ability to treat gunshot victims is considered normal. I and sick worrying about kids getting shot at school or at a playground, their own birthday parties, or just sitting on their front porch.

I don't want to read tomorrows headlines about active shooters. I don't want to risk life at the mall, or a church, a business, schools or become a victim of senseless random freeway murders. I'd rather see a small newspaper article on page 6, section C that says the owner of an illegal gun was arrested on a tip and charged for not complying with gun control laws.

[AllyCat]

16. Yes.

[Hekate]

8. What sick hell is this, indeed. Sarajevo. Northern Ireland. Beirut. Syria. All places that descended

...into chaos at one time or another, with neighbors shooting neighbors.

America is geographically bigger than any of them, so the violence is spread out more. It's just all over the place now -- randomized terrorist attacks keeping us all on edge wherever we go.

Thanks Congressman Swalwell for saying it. This is effing not normal.

[Recursion]

10. But we didn't in 1995, when gunshot wounds were twice as common?

We're playing right into their script here.

[AllyCat]

17. What? Where were gunshot wounds twice as common in 1995?

[Recursion]

19. OMG yes. Law & Order was a plausible TV premise back then; it's absurd now

The early- to mid-1990s were the peak of the biggest crime wave in US history. Shows like Law & Order or Homicide were plausible because a precinct having multiple murder cases open at once was normal; it doesn't happen nowadays (except in mass shootings like this).

Mass shootings get a ton of media attention but they don't actually move the percentages at all.

[sir pball]

35. Actually *more* than twice as common, across the country, in 1993 vs. 2011, and it's still dropping.

Firearm-related homicides declined 39%, from 18,253 in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011.
Nonfatal firearm crimes declined 69%, from 1.5 million victimizations in 1993 to 467,300 victimizations in 2011.
Firearm violence accounted for about 70% of all homicides and less than 10% of all nonfatal violent crime from 1993 to 2011.
From 1993 to 2011, about 70% to 80% of firearm homicides and 90% of nonfatal firearm victimizations were committed with a handgun.
Males, blacks, and persons ages 18 to 24 had the highest rates of firearm homicide from 1993 to 2010.
About 61% of nonfatal firearm violence was reported to the police in 2007-11.

(emphasis added)

https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4616

[Liberty Belle]

11. Here is good advice on how to treat a bullet wound, if you must:

https://www.wikihow.com/Treat-a-Bullet-Wound

I learned some things I didn't know. I agree, everyone should read this and have a clue what to do. You could save a life.

It is sad that we need to know these things, but better prepared than not.

I once saved my son's life with the Heimlich Maneuver when he was choking and turning blue. I hadn't had a class, just saw it on TV but thank God it worked.

I would not hesitant to try and save a gunshot victim if there was no medical professional on the scene yet, and I'm sure most of you would do the same.

The directions at this attachment only have illustrations, no gory photos, for those who are squeamish.

[oasis]

40. Thank you. nt

[xmas74]

13. American Red Cross sells a kit.

I kid you not. Our local Moms Demand Action group has considered purchasing one along with a bullet proof backpack to display at our tabling events. It's to directly show how insane things have become.

[woodsprite]

14. The Red Cross should include it in their

First Aid course. Their first aid course was mandatory and taught in 4th grade. The same year we were required to take a swimming safety class from the YMCA.

I had to use what I learned in the first aid class when I broke and dislocated my shoulder a few years ago. The ambulance attendants were going to transport me to the hospital without stabilizating or immobilizing it. I had to walk them through improvising a sling.

Maybe the cost of the course could be tax deductible or lower your insurance like defensive driving classes do.

[hlthe2b]

15. We're well beyond that: schools are putting tourniquets in classrooms & teaching how to do so:

https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/greeley-schools-add-trauma-kits-tourniquets-to-classrooms/73-1ac15363-4646-4432-9be1-25dc4ada07ce

Greeley schools add trauma kits, tourniquets to classrooms
The kits are designed to let teachers provide first aid in case there is ever an emergency at the schools.

https://www.khou.com/article/news/education/a-new-reality-tourniquets-bandages-as-school-supplies-at-fort-worth-isd/285-585085696
A new reality: Tourniquets, bandages as school supplies at Fort Worth ISD
Fort Worth ISD teachers are learning to use combat-style tourniquets and bandaging as part of a new program that aims to put life-saving supplies in every classroom.

[elocs]

18. There's nothing wrong with that or learning basic first aid.

Frankly there are so many common ways that I could be killed that I don't live in fear of a mass shooting or an act of terrorism.

Be real: if after a bunch of little kids are gunned down and killed in their classroom and nothing is done about guns at all, just what will it take?

Ultimately, who we vote for or if we choose to vote at all has consequences on both the state and federal levels.

[Recursion]

20. More kids were getting shot in schools 30 years ago; we just didn't care

Kids are less likely to get shot in school today than they were in the 80s and 90s, but it was 1 and 2 kids a time in "those" schools so we didn't care even though it added up to a lot more deaths.

[Paladin]

33. So, we're all supposed to be happy about how things are going, these days? (nt)

[sir pball]

36. Of course not, it's still a huge issue that needs sweeping reforms

But the "I'm so terrified to be in public I had to pack up and leave the festival after five minutes" and "OMG we have to have combat medic training now?" frenzies are quite frankly a bit unreasonable. 53 people were killed in mass shootings in August - while on a larger scale, that is absolutely something that needs pretty immediate and comprehensive action, on a personal level it doesn't even blip my threat radar. I'm far more nervous about cycling in to work TBH.

[Paladin]

39. You and I might not be so lucky.....

….in the next 50 mass shootings in this once-great nation. Enjoy your "while on a larger scale" outlook....

[sir pball]

41. And I'm far less likely to be lucky when I get in a car.

Waaaaaay more than 53 people were killed in alcohol-related car crashes in August.

So remind me again why I should avoid public spaces as much as possible and be in constant fear when I absolutely must leave the house?

I said we have a huge problem and need to get on it ASAP, I just know it's also borderline paranoia to be constantly freaking out about a 1 in six million chance. I do quite enjoy my "on a larger scale" outlook since it lets me, well, enjoy my day to day life without crippling, irrational personal terror.

[Paladin]

42. Your expression of scorn for lesser beings is noted. (nt)

[sir pball]

43. I don't feel any scorn for anyone

I feel sad, sad that we have a serious ongoing problem with mass shootings that is causing what's essentially agoraphobia in a not insignificant set of people.

Sorry, but rationally and factually speaking, there are many things more worth worrying about, on a personal level, than mass shootings.

[Paladin]

45. 53 years ago, the mother of a schoolmate of mine was murdered.

She was one of Charles Whitman's victims on the UT-Austin campus (8-1-1966). I've managed to dodge the dreaded agoraphobia you're so concerned about, but something like that tends to stay with you, over the years. Here's hoping your luck, and mine, continues to hold.

[sir pball]

46. That's not an unreasonable response, especially when it did personally affect you

But on the other hand "sticks with you" is a world apart from "I can't go to the grocery store without almost-crippling worry of a mass shooter".

Trust me, I'm far far FAR more concerned with the epidemic of mass shootings, and to repeat myself again, effective and immediate action on firearms is an absolute priority - I just think it's a small, sad side effect that a not insignificant number of people have what appear to be pretty significant day-to-day affects even though it's (coldly logically/rationally I'll admit) almost less than nothing to be worried over.

I suppose it is a matter of luck or random chance, yes, but the odds are so overwhelmingly in my favor that the thought literally does not enter into my head, even if I'm sitting in a mall food court or at a concert.

[elocs]

59. It's good to keep your fears rational, but as the song goes,

"paranoia strikes deep".
I refuse to live my life in fear.

[elocs]

58. Agreed, especially about the cycling.

And nearly 11,000 people each year are killed by drunk drivers and that's a greater concern for me than mass shootings, but I still go out on the roads.
(And this doesn't mean I claim nothing should be done about shootings in this country so don't try that BS argument on me.)

[elocs]

57. Nice strawman argument you present just so you can easily knock it down.

But I didn't say that.

[Paladin]

60. Wow, I can't get anything past you, can I? (nt)

[WhiskeyGrinder]

23. Preparation is never a bad thing.

[Demovictory9]

31. Trauma Room Scene (and they have all that equipment and know-how)

Link to tweet

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EDWD6SOUwAgIuSV?format=jpg&name=medium

[spanone]

24. Devolution.

[FM123]

26. I ask myself this same question over and over again....

What sick hell is this?

[DBoon]

29. Maybe instead we should learn to get rid of guns

Amazing the intellectual contortions gun nuts will go through

[DBoon]

30. You mean like those "how to survive a nuclear attack" guides?

The proper response isn't "save your ass" medical first aid.

The proper response is political protest to remove the source of the problem. This is a political problem and calls for political action, not medical self-help. A mass shooting is not a random act of nature, it is an entirely predictable outcome of a society awash in guns where shooting is seen as a way to settle scores.

The Thatcher government published a guide to surviving a nuclear attack called "Protect and Survive"

The anti-nuclear movement responded with "Protest and Survive". We need to do the same for guns.

[gulliver]

34. I wonder why the NRA isn't proposing this?

Maybe the Dems should. NRA Republicanism means we live in a world where we need to train to treat gunshot wounds and what to do when there are active shooters.

[Hortensis]

38. It's NOT "where we are." But understandable if he's upset that

bleeding sites weren't compressed when people's lives depended on it.

Just how complicated is applying direct pressure to a wound to slow serious bleeding from any cause? Everyone should know to do that.

[live love laugh]

44. "Every American"? Fuck. Him. (and CNN) nt

[RayOfHope]

47. I'ma public school teacher of young kids. This was part of our back to school training

this year.

We have had yearly "active shooter" trainings since 2013. The first few years involved how to stop a shooter and/or 'run, hide, fight' (we were chased, literally chased, by police officers with real firearms that shot blanks).

This year the training has evolved into how respond to gunshot wounds and how to use the "bleed out" kits that will now be housed in several areas of the school. Let that sink in.

I learned that if there is an entry would we also need to look for an exit wound, how to apply a covering to the wound, what breathing with a collapsed lung sounds like, and how to use the special tourniquets that have a device that you can turn to make it tighter.

I was in shock and in tears during the entire training. My thoughts bounced back and forth between "I can't believe this is happening" to "I'm a teacher, I didn't train to be a medic" and "how is training teachers to respond to gunshot wounds more acceptable than passing gun legislation".

[gldstwmn]

50. He is doing what he can. At least he's willing to offer up some ideas

in addition to thoughts and prayers. I'm not going to fault a guy who took time to talk after he'd just finished saving people's lives.

[Historic NY]

51. We have to become battlefield medics in our own communities.

[Ms. Toad]

61. Everyone should have standard first aid training.

From the perspective of what a lay first responder can do, a penetrating wound is a penetrating wound - regardless of the source.

[mitch96]

62. FYI, StopTheBleed.org and BleedControl.org have classes

https://www.bleedingcontrol.org
https://www.bleedingcontrol.org/news-updates
Good to know in general.. Auto accidents and any high risk sport..
I carry a first aid kit in the car with two fancy tournaquets.. Got 'em off ebay for about $20..
Cheap insurance.. YMMV
m