NORTHFIELD — Residents can learn essential first responder skills and get to know their local EMS workers during Northfield EMS’ monthly community education days this summer.
The first community education day will be Sunday starting at 2 p.m. at the EMS station, 41 Main St.
Erik Davidson, Northfield EMS public education coordinator and paramedic, said the June event will feature ambulance tours and “Stop the Bleed” demonstrations, and will also educate the community on autism and sensory awareness in children.
“People can come on over, learn a skill and meet the staff,” Davidson said. “They’re invited to see what the EMS does for their town.”
Using a mannequin, Davidson and fellow EMS workers will teach residents how to immediately address and treat injuries as part of the national “Stop the Bleed” campaign, which began in the wake of the Dec. 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn. The campaign encourages bystanders to become trained, equipped and empowered to act in a bleeding emergency before help arrives.
Davidson and his wife, Jo-Ann, also recently founded the Start ’Em Early Foundation, which provides sensory bags designed to aid first responders in emergency situations involving people and patients with autism. During the June 28 community education day, Jo-Ann will showcase some of the items in the sensory bags, all of which are meant to calm a nervous person or patient who may be overwhelmed by an emergency situation or the noise and bright lights from first responder vehicles.
“(Northfield) is where we piloted the program, so we wanted the foundation represented, for people to see what the partnership with Northfield EMS and the Start ’Em Early Foundation has been up to,” Davidson said.
The goal for each community education day is to teach residents an essential emergency skill. June will teach residents how to apply tourniquets or pack wounds to best prevent fatal blood loss as part of the “Stop the Bleed” campaign. While no official date has been set yet, Davidson said July’s event will teach hands-only CPR.
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.