
Traumatic injuries can happen anytime—one second of distraction by a driver, one degree of difference in the swing of an axe and one inch of miscalculation when carrying something heavy downstairs.
High Springs residents learned to step up when accidents cause traumatic bleeding at Wednesday’s STOP THE BLEED training session held by the High Springs Fire Department (HSFD) and UF Health.
According to UF Health, uncontrolled bleeding is the highest cause of preventable death by injury. The training aims to increase the possibility of survival by teaching bystanders to stem the flow until emergency services arrive.
Jordyn Zyngier, UF Health’s pediatric trauma injury prevention and outreach coordinator, said an uncontrolled bleed can cause death within three to five minutes. HSFD averages five minutes to respond to a call, with a response time below 8 minutes for 83% of calls. But national averages can run higher.
“That’s why this education, this information is pushed to our laypersons because you guys are more likely to be present in these life-threatening situations than we are,” Zyngier said.
UF Health has held STOP THE BLEED training for several years. Zyngier said the organization held 52 training sessions in 2024, partnering with cities, schools, churches and other organizations.
She said UF Health was able to educate a large percentage of Alachua County teachers during professional development days last year.
The STOP THE BLEED training actually originated from a school tragedy, the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. A group formed after the shooting to help improve victim survival. The training later gained White House approval and national implementation.
In High Springs, participants gathered at the civic center and learned the ABC’s needed to respond to traumatic bleeding. After applying tourniquets to themselves, the participants took the knowledge and used it on dummy wounds.
UF Health and HSFD staff guided the work and gave advice for applying pressure to wounds, packing wounds and even tourniquets if necessary. Just applying pressure with absorbent material addresses 60% of uncontrolled bleeding wounds, Zyngier said.
Kevin Mangan, public information officer for HSFD, said the partnership allows the city to access UF Health’s resources while helping UF Health fulfill its mission and spread word of the events.
“They offer so many resources that we as a small agency wouldn’t necessarily be able to acquire, and our relationship with them has been great,” Mangan said. “It’s a great opportunity for us, as a growing department and a growing city, to really get out there and do these community programs.”
Besides hands-only CPR training, which HSFD will provide in early February, Mangan said these trainings are new opportunities that the department has not offered before but plans to continue through the partnership.
Zyngier said UF Health also provides education on car seat installation, pedestrian safety (including distributing bike helmets and teaching kids the rules of the road), burn awareness, safe sleeping habits and ATV safety.
“We kind of take our top mechanisms of injury here at UF and develop and implement free education and resources to prevent those traumatic injuries throughout our community,” Zyngier said.
UF Health has multiple STOP THE BLEED training sessions per month. All are free and open to the public. The next session is from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 6 at Gainesville Fire Rescue Administration (606 SE Depot Ave.).
You can find the full schedule here.