VMFH Trauma Service Empowers Area Schools with Stop the Bleed Training & Kit Delivery

October 2025

Unless you’re medically trained, it’s difficult to imagine having the knowledge and power to save another’s life. That is the central message and mission of the nationwide Stop the Bleed initiative.

Created by the American College of Surgeons, Stop the Bleed aims to educate and empower community members to learn life-saving skills through hands-on training and gain access to the tools they might need when every second counts.

To help support this important work, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health (VMFH) Trauma Services has begun hosting training sessions with local public schools to educate those on the frontlines of responding to incidents such as school safety and security personnel, nurses, teachers and other leaders.

“This is more than preparation for an unexpected event like a mass shooting or motor vehicle accident,” shared Shalle Hobbs, Director of Health Services for Tacoma Public Schools. “We can use this training to respond to everyday incidents–from a classroom accident or incident during a sports practice. Having the training and tools at our fingertips will save lives.”

Thirty three nurses and 33 safety and security officers joined a recent Tacoma Public Schools training with members of the VMFH/St. Joseph Medical Center Trauma team. They learned the three key steps of "stopping the bleed” before diving into hands-on instruction with VMFH trauma team experts.

During the two-hour training, former emergency medicine nurse and VMFH Trauma Injury Prevention and Education Coordinator, Valerie Stone, emphasized the importance of each step and how one might choose to progress to the next option before help arrives including:

• Applying pressure to the wound 
• Packing the wound before reapplying pressure 
• Using a tourniquet if bleeding will not subside 

Stone also stressed the importance of ensuring one's own safety and the safety of those around them before intervening. "You can’t help someone else if you also become injured," she wisely pointed out.

Stone acknowledged the difficulty of keeping calm and remembering these steps when crises arise.

“I am a trained ED nurse and these steps are second nature when I am at the hospital,” she shared. “However, you put me out in the real-world with my family and friends, it all feels much different.”

Participants discussed their own experiences with unexpected accidents and incidents they had faced over the years and sought advice from other VMFH experts in the room including Dr. Paul Inouye, the Trauma Medical Director at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma.

Dr. Inouye emphasized the importance of routine training and encouraged everyone to do their best.

“These are extremely difficult situations that no one wants to face,” Dr. Inouye shared. “The most important thing you can do is show up like you are today, put the time into learning and do your best when the time comes. Every step you are able to take, can truly save a life.”

VMFH Trauma Services will continue expanding these vital trainings across Pierce and Kitsap counties this year and is assisting with the delivery of Stop the Bleed kits to area public schools. To date, eight trainings have been held with more than 200 professionals working in Tacoma Public Schools including administrators, teachers, safety and security officers, and school nurses.

"It’s an honor to be a part of this critical work and to collaborate so closely with Tacoma Public Schools," Stone concluded. "Our work in the Emergency Department is only one step of a patient’s journey. We want to ensure they have the best possible chance at a strong recovery before they even reach our hospital."

Trainings and Stop the Bleed kit delivery are supported by a grant provided by the Department of Commerce Office of Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention.