The Health and Interior ministers launched a training program titled “Stop the Bleed” in coordination with the Roads for Life NGO, and that in order to limit the number of accident victims in Lebanon.
“Stop the Bleed” program was launched in an event attended by MP Fadi Alameh, former Minister Yaacoub Sarraf, Baalbeck-Hermel Governor Bashir Khodr, Roads for Life’s president Zeina Kassar, as well as representatives of medical and security services, among many others.
Interior Minister Raya Hassan and Health Minister Jamil Jabak initiated this program by undergoing a quick training on how to intervene to save an injured person on the road from the danger of bleeding and death.
The training program, which lasts around 50 minutes, will be available to all citizens who can now request it from public and private institutions. The application does not require special medical skills, while its results contribute to saving many lives and reducing tragedies.
@roadsforlifeAs the name says, the training will help prevent victims from dying of blood loss before an ambulance arrives. It sets out three first steps to be taken in the case of an accident: applying pressure, wrapping the wound, and fixing tourniquets, which are devices that apply pressure on specific points to limit blood flow.
From his side, Health Minister Jamil Jabak highlighted in his speech the importance of this training program by recalling his experience as a doctor. In his words, “As a doctor, it is very easy to save an injured person if the efforts to prevent bleeding take place at the first appropriate moment.”
He went on explaining that there are many people who died or incurred health complications as a result of heavy bleeding because they needed a quick ambulance and had no immediate effective response.
Interior Minister Raya Hassan also gave a speech, and she described the program as a great achievement for the Roads For Life organization, for it allows the general public to pursue training courses on first aid techniques so that “anyone can be a savior.”
Hassan expressed her happiness to be the first to participate in the training program, wishing that everyone would join. “The Ministry of Interior and the Government are working together to save Lebanon from traffic accidents. This goal is a top priority because Lebanon’s roads saw 195 deaths and more than 2,000 injuries in the first five months of 2019, which is a real massacre that needs to be solved.”
Roads For Life is a nonprofit organization founded in 2011 in memory of Talal Kassem, a young 17-year-old boy who was killed by a ranging driver while crossing the road on his way to school.
This organization strives to help save as many lives as possible across Lebanon and to increase the chances of victims to survive within the first 60 minutes following an accident. That is known as “The Golden Hour of Trauma.”
