School nurses get life-saving training for mass trauma situations

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- From boo-boos to tummy aches, the school nurse sees it all.

Now 300 HISD school nurses are learning something far more serious, how to save a child's life in the event of a school shooting or mass trauma.

It's not something you want to think about, but knowing how to stop the bleeding from a serious injury very well could save someone's life.

Uncontrolled bleeding is the number one cause of preventable death from trauma according to the World Health Organization.

Many times when traumatic bleeding occurs the first people on the scene are bystanders who do not have any medical training.

And because of that, 80 percent of civilian trauma deaths are due to uncontrolled bleeding from an extremity.

To help change that Memorial Hermann Red Duke Trauma Institute is teaming up with Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital, Harris Health System, Texas Children's Hospital and HISD to teach more than 300 HISD school nurses on how to identify the source of bleeding, apply pressure to a wound, pack a wound and apply a tourniquet.

The nurses are all going home with kits that they can take back to their schools that have the tools they'll need to stop someone from bleeding to death.

They will also be able to share their knowledge with others in the school so even more people know these life-saving techniques.

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