(Hamilton, OH) – File under J. For just in case.
Or perhaps under L. For life-saving.
No matter where they keep it, staff members at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts received CPR, AED and stop-the-bleed information and training on Tuesday, November 12.
Mark Mignery, EMS Coordinator for the City of Hamilton Fire Department, led the training sessions.
“If you take one thing away from the training today, I want it to be this – compressions, compressions, compressions,” Mingery said. “If you can do proper chest compressions for CPR, you can keep somebody alive for a long time.”
Every staff member had an opportunity to test compression technique on a training dummy. They also paired up so one partner could do CPR while the other prepared an AED and practiced shocking the dummy patient’s heart back into rhythm.
“The AEDs can be scary,” Mingery said. “Actually, it’s the situation that’s scary. The AEDs are pretty easy once you get them started. They’ll tell you exactly what to do and when to do it. You just have to follow instructions.”
Most of the staff had previous familiarity with CPR and AEDs, but stop-the-bleed training was new to several.
Mingery described different kinds of wounds and demonstrated effective ways to slow or stop blood flowing from different parts of the body.
Staffers applied direct pressure and used a tourniquets on one another; they also practiced packing wounds on training dummies with gauze.
“We never want to have to actually use this training,” said Fitton Center Executive Director Ian MacKenzie-Thurley. “But just in case, we all need to know what to do to keep people as safe as possible in the event of an emergency. It’s important for our staff and for our guests to know we’re doing everything we can to make sure they will be safe when they are here.”
Earlier this year, the Fitton Center also hosted a region-wide training session for several mass casualty scenarios, including active shooters and weather disasters like floods and tornados.
“You don’t like to think about these things, but as a place where the public gathers, we need to think about these things,” MacKenzie-Thurley said. “We need practice these things, so in the event of an emergency, we’re prepared to help until the life squad can get here. That may be the difference between life and death.”
The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is located at 101 S. Monument Avenue on the Riverfront in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.
Building Community Excellence through the Arts and Culture
