The First Minute Project Brings Life-Saving Bleeding Control Training to Conifer High School
Last year, The First Minute Project partnered with Conifer High School to provide hands-on bleeding control training to more than 60 members of the school’s staff. The goal was simple: give school personnel the knowledge and confidence to take immediate action when a serious bleeding emergency occurs.
Through hands-on instruction and practical training, staff members learned how to apply a tourniquet to control life-threatening bleeding from a limb injury. They also learned how to properly pack chest and back wounds with gauze to help control bleeding until professional medical help arrives.
The training was a tremendous success and it was made possible through the cooperation of the school and local EMS resources.
Equipping Every Classroom
Training staff is only part of the solution. The First Minute Project also worked to ensure that the school had the equipment necessary to put that training into action.
Through community fundraising and generous donations, more than $4,000 was raised for bleeding-control supplies. Those funds allowed The First Minute Project to equip classrooms throughout Conifer High School with two tourniquets per classroom, along with multiple rolls of gauze and other bleeding-control supplies.
This means that if a serious bleeding emergency occurs, life-saving equipment is readily available where it is needed, rather than being locked away in a distant location or stored in a central office.
Prepared for the First Minute
FMP President Chris Harrington delivering supplies to CHS Principal Greg Manier after a monthly SAC meeting.
During a lockdown or other emergency, professional responders may not be able to immediately reach an injured person. In those critical moments, trained school personnel may be the first people capable of providing life-saving care.
By combining staff training with strategically placed bleeding-control equipment, Conifer High Schoolis now better prepared to respond to a traumatic injury during a lockdown situation — and better equipped to respond to serious bleeding emergencies in general.
The program is about more than preparing for the worst-case scenario. It is about giving school staff the tools and confidence to respond when seconds matter, whether an injury occurs during a school emergency, on the athletic field, in a classroom, or anywhere else on campus.
A Community Effort
This program would not have been possible without the incredible support of the local community.
The First Minute Project is especially grateful to Principal Mr. Manier for his leadership, cooperation, and willingness to work with us to successfully implement a bleeding-control program at Conifer High School. His coordination with school staff helped make the training and equipment rollout possible.
We also want to extend our sincere thanks to the Evergreen Strong Foundation and to the many local community members who donated to help raise the funds needed to equip the school.
This was truly a community effort.
Parents, community members, local organizations, school leadership, and The First Minute Project all came together with one common goal: to give school personnel the ability to act when someone’s life may depend on it.
Building Safer Schools, One Community at a Time
The success at Conifer High School demonstrates what can happen when a community comes together around a common purpose.
The First Minute Project believes that every school should have trained personnel and readily accessible bleeding-control equipment. Severe bleeding can become fatal within minutes, but immediate intervention can help save a life before first responders arrive.
What started as a partnership with one school became a powerful example of what our community can accomplish when we work together.
Conifer High School is now better prepared. Its staff is better trained. Its classrooms are better equipped. And its community has shown what is possible when we come together to protect our students and one another.
The First Minute Project is proud to have played a part in making that happen and we are grateful to everyone who helped make it possible.
The first minute matters. Preparation matters. And together, we can make a difference.
