Salinas, Calif. – January 17, 2018 – Natividad Medical Center (NMC) has implemented the American College of Surgeons’ (ACS) public education campaign, ‘Stop the Bleed’, to better equip the public with medical tactics to help save lives in urgent situations.

“The public plays a vital role in the time between an injury and when professional medical help has arrived,” said Lorraine Artinger, trauma prevention and outreach nurse at Natividad Medical Center. “By teaching our community basic techniques to stop bleeding, they can help save lives and prevent serious injury.”

NMC has partnered with Monterey County’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and California Highway Patrol (CHP) to bring the program to the community. As part of the campaign, NMC’s trauma team will train high school students, businesses and other organizations on how to quickly assess an injury, properly compress and control bleeding, pack wounds and apply tourniquets. The training will be especially useful for those who work in agriculture, where there are often heavy machine accidents, or for those who are victims of gun violence.

Kicking off the first round of ‘Stop the Bleed’ training, NMC is hosting 21 students from Salinas High School’s Health Academy on January 18. Students will tour the hospital, learn from NMC’s trauma, emergency, respiratory and operating teams, and complete the training during a structured course led by trauma surgeon, Dr. Andrew McCague.

The ‘Stop the Bleed’ campaign was initiated by a federal interagency workgroup convened by the National Security Council Staff at The White House. The purpose of the campaign is to build national resilience by better preparing the public to save lives by raising awareness of basic actions to stop life threatening bleeding following everyday emergencies, and man-made and natural disasters.

To request ‘Stop the Bleed’ training for your organization of 15 or more, please contact Lorraine Artinger at artingerlg@natividad.com.

About Natividad Medical Center (NMC)
Owned and operated by Monterey County, NMC is a 172-bed, acute-care hospital providing health care services to county residents for more than 132 years. Based in Salinas, California, NMC offers inpatient, outpatient, emergency, diagnostic and specialty medical care. NMC provides more than 38,000 patient days of care each year and has more than 52,000 emergency department visits per year. NMC is a Level II Trauma Center providing the immediate availability of specialized personnel, equipment and services to treat the most severe and critical injuries. NMC’s Trauma Center is a vital community service locally that saves lives and eliminates the need to fly critically injured patients to a distant trauma center. NMC is ranked No. 1 in newborn deliveries in Monterey County and is the only teaching hospital on the Central Coast through its affiliation with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). With a medical staff of more than 350 physicians, NMC’s mission is to continually monitor and improve the health of the people, including the vulnerable, in Monterey County through coordinated, affordable high-quality health care. For more information, please call 831-755-4111 or visit www.natividad.com.

About the American College of Surgeons
The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for all surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 80,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. For more information, visit www.facs.org.