The Stop the Bleeding Foundation (STBF) is proud to announce that they are the recipient of a $149,973 grant from the Blue and You Foundation. This grant money will be used in the North Central Arkansas Trauma Zone to train 600 Law Enforcement Officers and Firefighters in life-saving medical techniques. Each student will attend an intense eight-hour Law Enforcement and First Responder Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (LEFR-TECC) at no cost to their department. Upon successful completion of the course, each student will also receive a free Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) to carry on and off duty. The class is normally $500 per student and the IFAK retails for $150.

“Law Enforcement and Fire/Rescue Officers are often the first on the scene of an emergency,” said Spencer Guinn MD, President and co-founder of the STBF. “The North Central trauma zone is very rural and medically underserved. This grant will allow for 600 more trained First Responders to assist in an emergency until professional EMS arrives. There is no doubt that lives will be saved in Arkansas as a result of this.” The North Central Arkansas Trauma Zone extends from Marion, Baxter, Fulton, and Sharp Counties on the Missouri border and south to Van Buren, Cleburne, White, and Woodruff Counties. Cities included in this zone are Yellville, Mountain Home, Salem, Ash Flat, Marshall, Mountain View, Batesville, Clinton, Heber Springs, Searcy, and Augusta. While the North Central Trauma Zone is the priority in 2019, the STBF will continue to train students from all five Trauma Zones as well.

The STBF was a recipient of a $149,334 grant from the Blue and You Foundation for training in 2018 for the Northeast Trauma Zone. 697 First Responders at the Federal, State, and local level were trained, plus 113 DO students at NYIT ASU Osteopathic Medical School, 130 members of local Church Security/Safety teams, and 236 Westside School faculty and staff. 900 IFAKs were distributed. Students attended from all five Arkansas Trauma Zones. Multiple lives were saved by students in these classes, including a two-year old stabbing victim:

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The Stop the Bleeding Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit in Jonesboro, Arkansas. It is an all-volunteer organization with over 50 instructors. The primary goal of the STBF is to train Law Enforcement, Fire/ Rescue, EMS, and First Responders and to provide them with life-saving medical equipment for free. The STBF also teaches classes to civilian groups such as churches, civic groups, businesses, schools, and municipalities. The STBF has trained over 3000 people in the last four years.

Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield established the Blue & You Foundation in 2001 as a charitable foundation to promote better health in Arkansas. The Blue & You Foundation awards grants annually to non-profit or governmental organizations and programs that positively affect the health of Arkansans. “Our grants this year went to programs across the state that address such issues as nutrition and exercise, food insecurity, emergency medical services and medical professional education,” said Patrick O’Sullivan, executive director of the Blue & You Foundation. In its 17 years of operation, the Blue & You Foundation has awarded $33 million to 1,566 health improvement programs in Arkansas.