Echo Hose Ambulance Corps has scheduled several classes at its Community Training Center, 430 Coram Avenue.
• There will be three free Narcan and suicide prevention education and training classes planned over the next several weeks. The classes, which are open to the public, will be March 21, April 25 and May 23. Each will run from 6:30 to 8 at the training center. Lorrie McFarland of BHcare will be giving the presentation. Those interested are asked to register to guarantee attendance since the class size is limited. Everyone is required to register online at echohose.com. For more information, contact Echo Hose Ambulance Education Coordinator Patrick Lahaza at plahaza@sheltonems.com
• The C.A.R.E.S. Hope & Support Group meets every Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the training center. Walk ins are always welcome. Community education and public health is a large focus of Echo Hose Ambulance Corps, and, over the year, the training center has started a Community Narcan Out Reach Program and has given out more than 600 kits. In conjunction with that program, Echo Hose has also aligned with the C.A.R.E.S. Hope & Support Group. The C.A.R.ES. Group, Inc., offers free, weekly support groups that provide ongoing education, support services, and treatment resources for parents, families, and community members addressing issues related to substance abuse and addiction. Free services Include treatment consultations, recovery resources, intervention services and community outreach. For more information, call 855-406-0246 or visit www.thecaresgroup.org.
• A Stop the Bleed program — focused on bleeding control for the injured — will be held April 29 at 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the training center. The Stop the Bleed course was developed by NAEMT's PHTLS Committee with leadership provided by Dr. Peter Pons and Dr. Norman McSwain. The course was developed in response to efforts by the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services to increase collaboration between law enforcement, the fire service and EMS in responding to active shooter/IED/mass casualty events. Stop the Bleed (B-Con) is consistent with the recommendations of the Hartford Consensus on Improving Survival from Active Shooter Events.
The Hartford Consensus recommends that an integrated active shooter response should include the critical actions contained in the acronym THREAT — Threat; Hemorrhage control; Rapid Extrication to safety; Assessment by medical providers; Transport to definitive care. This new course teaches participants the basic life-saving medical interventions, including bleeding control with a tourniquet, bleeding control with gauze packs or topical hemostatic agents, and opening an airway to allow a casualty to breathe. The course is designed for NON-tactical law enforcement officers, firefighters, security personnel, teachers and other civilians requiring this basic training.
At the completion of the course, participants will be able to explain the rationale for the early use of a tourniquet for life-threatening extremity bleeding; demonstrate the appropriate application of a tourniquet to the arm and leg; describe the progressive strategy for controlling hemorrhage; describe appropriate airway control techniques and devices; and demonstrate the correct application of a topical hemostatic dressing (combat gauze).
For more information, contact Echo Hose Ambulance Education Coordinator Patrick Lahaza at plahaza@sheltonems.com
• The American Heart Association Friends and Family CPR class is held each month. The next classes, all of which are free, will be March 16, April 20, May 18, Sept. 21, and Oct. 19. All classes run from 9 to 11:30 a.m.
The Family & Friends CPR course teaches the lifesaving skills of adult hands-only CPR, adult CPR with breaths, child CPR with breaths, adult and child AED use, infant CPR, and mild and severe airway block for adults, children, and infants. Skills are taught in a dynamic group environment using the AHA’s research-proven practice-while-watching technique, which provides students with the most hands-on CPR practice time possible.
Family & Friends CPR is for people who want to learn CPR but do not need a CPR course completion card to meet a job requirement. This course is ideal for community groups, new parents, grandparents, babysitters, and others interested in learning how to save a life. This course does not provide a course completion card; however, students receive a tear-out participation card in their student manual or can download a certificate of participation.
For more information or to register, contact Cindy Glover, Community Training CPR, at cglover@sheltonems.com