Around 60,000 Americans die each year from hemorrhaging, or blood loss, according to a 2018 study by The New England Journal of Medicine.

In response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, the Hartford Consensus was formed, which is a national three phase approach to increasing the number of survivors in mass casualty and active shooter situations.

While only one elementary school in the United States is fully compliant with all three phases, the Emergency Management Advisory Committee (EMAC) at Oakland University began working toward this goal on March 31, 2017, National Stop the Bleed Day.

Phase one, which OU has recently achieved, consists of placing a TAC PAC Standard Kit, containing tourniquets, gauze and more, in all 50 public AED cabinets on campus as well as offering Bleeding Control (BCON) classes for students, staff, faculty and members of the surrounding community.

“We’re the first university in the State of Michigan to fully comply with phase one of the Hartford Consensus, and that’s big for us,” said Michael Crum, Emergency Manager for the Oakland University Police Department (OUPD).

As of Wednesday, Dec. 5, 650 members of the OU community have been trained in the immediate response to bleeding, recognizing life threatening bleeding and the appropriate ways to stop it.

One important focus of the training is to re-educate people on the use of tourniquets. For example, a global three-year study by the American College of Surgeons found that if a tourniquet is removed within two hours, 0 percent of people lost their arm or leg, while within six hours it was only a contributing factor for 1 percent of people.

Phase two of the Hartford Consensus, which EMAC is currently working on, involves getting larger numbers of TAC PAC Standard Kits into large gathering places on campus such as The O’rena, the Oakland Center, the cafeterias, Meadow Brook Theatre and more.

There are currently 94 kits on campus, and with basketball and commencements coming up, the O’rena has been filled first. EMAC is now in the process of adding kits to Housing at each Nightwatch station, with RAs and RDs, etc.

Phase three, which Crum considers a big goal for a large university, will be making it so an immediate responder can get a kit to an injured person anywhere on campus within three minutes.

“The help given by an immediate responder can often make the difference between life and death,” said Chris Dilbert III, one of the captains for Oakland University’s student-run First Aid Support Team (FAST). “Within five minutes a person can bleed out.”

The kits can be identified across campus by a  TAC PAC sticker on doors and AED cabinets.

“The only thing more tragic than a death is a death that could have been prevented,” Dilbert said, stating the motto of BleedingControl.org. “As corny as that sounds, it is very true.”

The next BCON training will be on Monday, Dec. 10 at 10:30 a.m. in Room 2018 of the Human Health Building. Visit OUPD’s BCON page to register, go to BleedingControl.org for more information.