‘Stop the Bleed’ teaches Tempe schools’ nurses life-saving techniques

PHOENIX — St. Luke’s Hospital and the Tempe Union High School District teamed up Wednesday to train the district’s eight school nurses in life-saving techniques in the event of a disaster.

The program is called “Stop the Bleed” and is intended to instruct nurses what to do in the critical minutes before first responders arrive on scene.

Marcos de Niza High School nurse Karen Allen helped spearhead the special training for nurses following the mass shooting at a high school in South Florida.

“I got on my school nurse online forum right after the Parkland, Fla., shootings and that was a really hot topic,”  Allen said.

Allen said she never expected that during her 20-year career as a school nurse at Marcos de Niza, she would have to learn mass trauma techniques.

“When I started 20 years ago, we did not even have a fence around the high school,” Allen said. “People could come and go as they pleased. It was real simple back then.”

St. Luke’s Medical Center Director of Emergency Services Elizabeth Waack said the type of training the school nurses received through “Stop the Bleed” goes in depth.

“There’s a major natural disaster or other type of event they can offer aid and stop the bleeding with the appropriate use of tourniquets and controlling bleeding,” Waack said.

Tempe High School hosted the training event for nurses Wednesday. Principal Dr. Stacia Wilson said school nurses play an important role on campus every day.

“Day to day, the things they do are often unseen and unnoticed but they are still a very important part of the school,“ Wilson said.

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