'Stop the bleed': Baltimore middle school students learn life-saving skills

BALTIMORE -- Middle school students in Baltimore learned about bleeding control on Thursday.

The seventh-graders in Pimlico Middle School's Health Science Program gained knowledge that could one day help save a life.

Matthew Owens' health science lab at Pimlico Middle is where students can learn about anything from the different aspects of the healthcare industry to the functions of the body and how they work together. 

On Thursday, James Gannon, a trauma program manager at Sinai Hospital, took over Owens' class and taught kids how to stop the bleed.

"Stop the bleed is a class much like first aid and really should be taught together with first aid," Gannon said.

The key to this lesson is not only learning it, but also remembering it and applying it to everyday life.

And it's as simple as "A-B-C" – alert, bleeding and compression.

"If you just told me all of those things, I might not remember it, but the acronym helps," seventh-grader Austin Hays Green said.

The acronym helped an eight-grade student, who took this class last year, provide aid to her friend got injured. 

"It was kind of a small, pointy stick that was stuck in her leg," Grace Nyembo said. "I tied my sweater to her leg to stop the blood circulation."

The hope is that this class could help one day save a life. 

"Hemorrhage is the No. 1 preventable cause of death after injury," Gannon said. "Teaching somebody at 12 or 13 years old and giving them the skills that they'll take for the rest of their lives could definitely help save a life somewhere down the line."

Gannon said the No. 1 misconception about the stop the bleed class is that it is related to bleeding caused by violence.

Gannon said everyone could benefit from taking this class.