Cole County EMS runs Stop the Bleed and CPR training at Jefferson City Jaycees Fair

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Cole County EMS and Jefferson City Fire Department is holding Stop the Bleed and CPR training at the Jefferson City Jaycee Fair until Saturday.

The training includes CPR Manikins, prosthetic limbs with injuries including gunshot wounds and fake blood to simulate arterial wounds.

"We are out here with the Jefferson City Fire Department trying to teach the public an introduction to CPR and stop the bleed, trauma bleed control," Cole County EMT Dirk Protzman said. "It's very important a person if their heart is stopped, they're going to have irreversible brain damage and death set in as early as seven to 10 minutes. Without that heart pumping oxygenated blood to them. And, the same with a traumatic injury where they're losing arterial blood or venous blood in two to three minutes."

The department is helping residents learn basic CPR skills and procedures, which begin with asking the victim if they need assistance and calling 911. Then, check the scene to make sure you are safe, and check for breathing and a pulse.

"Pulse check, where you look listen and feel again for that, breathing to see if they have started breathing again, and check their pulse for their artery and if they haven't then you go right back into CPR compressions for another two minutes," Protzman said.

The department is also hosting tourniquet training. This includes two prosthetic limbs with different injuries and one that pumps fake blood.

When it comes to deep injuries such as slashes or gunshot wounds, it is important to stuff the wound with gauze immediately and apply pressure for three minutes. If the bleeding continues you should apply a tourniquet just above the wound, but below any joints.

"You want to be in between the wound and the heart," Protzman said. "So that that blood is not flowing past that tourniquet, on these you just cinch it down, until you can't until it's tight, and then you spin this handle... and then you lock it in, and that should stop that bleeding."

Protzman said the Cole County EMS is happy to provide training on other days for those not able to make it to the fair. Or, you can reach out to the Jefferson City Fire Department, Stop the Bleed and the American Red Cross to take part in group training sessions.

Protzman said they are seeing an average of 30-40 people stop by the tent every night. The fair will run until Saturday, and the Cole County EMS tent will be stationed there every day between 5 and 10 p.m. near the entrance.