On April 20, over 700 Montgomery High School students participated in the hands-on portion of Stop the Bleed training, a national campaign from the American College of Surgeons that teaches members of the community how to render aid to victims in traumatic events, such as car accidents, fires and shootings. Students learned how to apply direct pressure for bleeding, how to pack a wound and how to apply a tourniquet, as well as the importance of calling 911 as soon as possible.

Participating students in Montgomery ISD's Career and Technical Education Program completed an interactive online course before the hands-on training and received a certificate after completing the hands-on training, which was led by nurses and doctors from HCA Houston Healthcare.

“Stop the Bleed training is in regard to direct hemorrhage control,” said Randy Gauny, director of trauma services at HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe, in an interview. “It could be in the setting of a mass casualty event—something like Vegas or Columbine—or it could be just everyday living, whether it’s recreational activities or something that happens around the house.”

Tonya Cooper, a teacher at Montgomery High School and a nurse, said in an interview the school wanted to give students hands-on experience in a hospital, but COVID-19 prevented that. Instead, Cooper said she reached out to bring the Stop the Bleed program to the students, as has been done in previous years, so students still get hands-on experience.

“Because of issues that we’ve had in previous years at other schools with Columbine and Sandy Hook, I think it’s important that [the students] all realize that this can really happen; this can happen here,” Cooper said.

Gauny said it is unfortunate that mass casualty incidents have been on the rise in recent years, so the program aims to provide training to anyone who wants to train to save a life.

“We’re really just trying to prepare [students] for the next phase in their life and arm them with some simple, cost-effective tools where they may be able to make a huge impact and save a life,” Gauny said.