Posted on 19th Feb
Stop The Bleed kits are being installed alongside every defibrillator in Nottinghamshire as part of a life-saving initiative that launched in Sutton last year.
ATTFE College started the campaign in September, aiming to equip the public with knowledge and practical skills to respond confidently in emergency situations.
Stop the Bleed training sessions particularly help people learn how to control haemorrhaging.
The official launch of expanding the scheme to place kits — which include tourniquets and trauma dressings — with defibrillators took place at Ashfield Community Health and Wellbeing Centre in Kirkby.
The first Stop the Bleed kit was installed into a defibrillator cabinet outside the centre on Portland Street.
More than 1,000 defibrillator cabinets across the county will be equipped with Stop the Bleed kits before August.
The expansion of the project is being funded by Nottinghamshire Freemasons, who have donated £6,000, with additional support coming from others, including Ashfield district and Nottinghamshire County Councillor Joe Rich, with ATTFE College providing life-saving training sessions to individuals, community groups, and organisations.
The initiative has its roots in the highly-successful community programme, where more than 3,200 people were trained between September and December last year and a video produced and watched by over 32,000 people — including at football matches at Nottingham Forest, Notts County, and Mansfield Town in December.
East Midlands Ambulance Service, Nottinghamshire Freemasons, and ATTFE College were among those present at the launch event.
College principal Liz Barrett said: “By integrating these life-saving kits in defibrillator cabinets, we are equipping our communities in Nottinghamshire with essential tools that can make the difference between life and death.”
Referring to the training sessions, she added: “It’s really important that we get that knowledge out there and people have the resilience to attend to a bleed incident, whether that’s a knife incident, or an accident.”
Also at the launch event was Adele Cook, whose husband, James, was fatally stabbed in Newark last year.
Adele, who has raised money for bleed kits, said: “They can be the difference between life and death.
“We’ll never know for sure, but it could have made a difference [for James]. We would have liked to have had the chance to try.”
Peter Gregory, community lead for Nottinghamshire Freemasons, added: “This initiative and essential funding will help train our communities and increase resilience.
“Funding Stop The Bleed kits in all defibrillator cabinets across Nottinghamshire means people will know what to do if they come across someone with a severe bleed.”
Michael Barnett-Connolly, head of Community Response, Collaboration and Engagement at East Midlands Ambulance Service, explained how they started in the county with five bleed control cabinets, and were now putting 73 into public defibrillator sites — and seeking consent for a further 826 in community-owned sites.
“Through this partnership initiative, we will make the public aware and prepared in case of an emergency situation,” he added.
Residents are encouraged to join the life-saving initiative and learn how they could help protect others by attending one of the Stop The Bleed training sessions.
A spokesperson said: “It is essential for everyone to know how to save a life if the situation ever arises at home, work or in the community.”
To book a place at a training session, email Lee Brazier at ATTFE College at [email protected] or call the college on 01623 441310.
