'Stop The Bleed' Program Teaches People What To Do In Mass Casualty Scenarios

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Whether it's a car crash, gun violence, or terrorism, the cause of death is often uncontrolled bleeding.

But as CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez reported, many of those victims could have been saved if people knew how to stop the bleeding. There's now a nationwide campaign teaching people how to respond during emergencies.

Uncontrolled bleeding can lead to death in just five to 10 minutes. Yet first aid to control that bleeding could actually save 20 percent of trauma victims.

Now, several medical and government organizations, including Homeland Security and FEMA, are teaching military-style bleeding control to ordinary citizens.

"When you see all the things that have happened, it's pretty scary in the school systems now. And anything I think as a teacher I can do," middle school teacher Bob Teraila said.

Teraila was among the dozens who came to the Emergency Management Center in Wallingford, Connecticut to participate in a program that teaches the public how to provide aid to someone who is bleeding until medical help arrives.

The Stop the Bleed program was launched in wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.

"Sandy Hook, as well as Pulse nightclub and the Boston Marathon bombing," said Jeremy Fridling, a 24-year-old paramedic and first-year medical student at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University. "A lot of people were injured and passed away from blood loss before they were able to reach the hospital or before first responders were able to get there."

"It's not just about school shootings or bombings, like the Boston Marathon, where these skills matter," he added.

Students practice on dummies and each other to learn how to pack a wound and apply a tourniquet or a piece of cloth to control the bleeding.

"Sad that we have to learn this stuff," Teraila said. "If you can save one life, it's well worth it."

Trauma experts say the goal is to make this as common as CPR.

To learn where you can receiving training, click here.