Step-by-step audio, pictorial, and written instructions guide bystanders in emergency situations to confidently treat bleeding injuries.

“Despite the advances in trauma care and lessons learned from the military, some 80,000 lives are lost in the United States each year due to uncontrolled bleeding (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16763478),” says Paul Vecchio, Vice President, North American Rescue, LLC (www.narescue.com), in an interview with MD+DI.

“There is a constant stream of emergency situations that involve major bleeding and loss of life that could be potentially preventable if bystanders were equipped with lifesaving medical equipment,” Vecchio says. “From vehicle crashes and incidents involving farming equipment or public transportation, to accidental injuries from natural disasters like tornadoes, or inflicted injuries from intentional acts of violence like shootings and bombings, uncontrolled bleeding can result in death within minutes—even before emergency medical services or other emergency responders can arrive. These first minutes following a traumatic injury are crucial to saving a life.”

The problem is so urgent that, in October 2015, the White House launched the “Stop the Bleed”  campaign, designed to provide bystanders of emergency situations with the tools and knowledge to stop life-threatening bleeding.

In response to this call to action, North American Rescue has developed an Audio Bleeding Control Kit that provides audio instructions in both English and Spanish, along with pictorial illustrations, that helps users provide immediate care to injured people. These are the only bleeding control kits on the market with built-in audio hardware, and they offer equipment and supplies to manage minor, moderate, and severe bleeding safely and effectively.

The kits contain different supply packs that are used with either severe bleeding (to an arm or leg only), moderate bleeding, or minor bleeding. These supply packs are color-coordinated to help the user determine which to use. They include a tourniquet supply pack, a hemostatic dressing supply pack, a compression dressing supply pack, and an accessories supply pack. They are easy-to open with tear notches.

The kit’s dimensions are 12.5 in. x 9.75 in. x 2.6 in., and it weighs 3.15 lb. They can be stored on a shelf, in a drawer, in the trunk of a car, and can also be wall mounted. Possible locations for the kits include schools, airports, concert venues, office buildings, cars, buses, and the company suggests that they be placed next to all automated external defibrillators.

Vecchio says the units ship with batteries installed. The batteries have a five-year shelf life and can be easily changed. A power button on the module preserves battery life until the unit is used.

“You can replay, rewind, pause, stop, or advance the audio instructions,” Vecchio says. “Since the audio is contained digitally, there is no delay after pushing your desired selection.” Volume can also be controlled, with max being the default setting for use in loud or chaotic environments.

The company also makes many other types of kits that are equipped to address the top leading causes of potentially preventable death, and can be customized to a customer’s level of training.