ASHLAND – The Ashland County Fairgrounds is better-prepared for a bleeding emergency, thanks to a partnership between the Ashland Board of Realtors and the Ashland Fire Department.
The local board of realtors donated an approximately $800 bleeding control station containing several Stop the Bleed kits to the Ashland County Fairgrounds.
In preparation for the availability of the kits, staff and directors of the fair attended a training session conducted by Ashland Fire Department EMS Captain Tony Coletta.
The Stop the Bleed is a national campaign designed to provide bystanders with the tools and information they need to act quickly to stop bleeding and save a life in the event of a mass casualty incident or an emergency situation in which first responders are not immediately available to attend to a patient.
The tourniquets and hemostatic dressings in the kits are the same products and technology the Department of Defense has tested and approved for use by all U.S. military forces, according to a news release from the Ashland Board of Realtors.
The public relations committee of the Ashland Board of Realtors recently held a Golf Outing and Euchre Tournament to raise money for this project as well as other public service projects of the Ashland Fire Department and Ashland County Honor Bus.
Board of realtors executive director Misty Miller said the board wanted to support the project because the local firefighters’ union supports them.
“They’re actually our biggest sponsor for our golf outing, and we wanted to give back to them in some way,” she said. “We hope this brings some education for folks as well.”
Coletta said placing kits at the fairgrounds is an extension of an initiative that began with support from University Hospitals Samaritan Medical Center and the Samaritan Hospital Foundation.
“We’ve gotten the kits in all the schools. It’s also a class we’ve been teaching to a lot of people, and we feel it’s beneficial for everybody to know,” Coletta said of Stop the Bleed. “This stuff can happen outside of schools, so we need to get these kits out to the public.”
