U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Government Website

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Safely connect using HTTPS

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Get Involved
  3. Stop the Bleed

Stop the Bleed

Stop the Bleed Stop the Bleed is a grassroots national awareness campaign and call-to-action. Stop the Bleed encourages bystanders to become trained, equipped, and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives.

To learn more or to get involved in the Stop the Bleed Campaign, contact us at stopthebleed@hq.dhs.gov.

No matter how fast professional emergency responders arrive, bystanders will always be first on the scene. A person who is bleeding can die from blood loss within five minutes, therefore it is important to quickly stop the blood loss. Those nearest to someone with life threatening injuries are best positioned to provide first care.

You may be able to save a life by taking these simple actions right after the trauma.

If you would like to take a course to prepare yourself to help injured people following a traumatic event, contact your local public health department, hospitals and clinics, emergency medical services, or fire and police departments to see if they offer any training.

You can also look for local classes on the Bleeding ControlCommunity Emergency Response Teams, and Medical Reserve Corps websites.

  1. Pick a training curriculum and affiliate with that organization, such as:
    1. The American College of Surgeons Bleeding Control Basics course (often called B-Con)
    2. The First Care Provider organization's suite of courses
    3. The You Are the Help Until Help Arrives suite of courses (a joint program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, FEMA, and the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences)
    4. American Red Cross First Aid for Severe Trauma
  2. Identify available instructors (or become trained as an instructor yourself)
  3. Advertise to staff, colleagues, friends, family, and the public
  4. Start training!
Last Updated: 10/14/2022
Was this page helpful?
This page was not helpful because the content