A new program in the Campus Safety Awareness series provides Aggies with skills to save a life.
Until Help Arrives is the final program of the series and will be available to students with three different stations on Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the 12th Man Hall of the MSC. The event is hosted by Texas A&M’s Office of Safety and Security to educate students about measures they can take to medically aid someone while waiting for trained professionals to arrive at the scene. Students will have the opportunity to learn how to perform sidewalk CPR and how to stop bleeding by applying a tourniquet.
Monica Martinez, the emergency management coordinator in the Office of Safety and Security, said the Campus Safety Awareness Series introduces four events every semester, with specific events varying from year to year. The final program is a FEMA course that is modified for the scale of the event. The series collaborates on emergency preparedness with on-campus departments such as Residence Life, University Police, Environmental Health and Safety and Transportation Services.
“It’s basically just empowering the campus community to help others during an emergency until those trained first responders, EMS, or law enforcement or whoever else can get to the scene,” Martinez said.
The office is always looking for new ways of engaging the campus community in preparedness and safety information, Martinez said. According to Martinez, it is hard for students to take the time to participate in a formal presentation, so Until Help Arrives will be located at the MSC to be more accessible to busy students.
“You can learn sidewalk CPR in five minutes and then go about your day and be that much more prepared for emergencies,” Martinez said.
There’s a lot of steps an individual can take to help save a life after an emergency, such as starting CPR, calling 911 and providing first aid, Martinez said. Until Help Arrives empowers the campus community to help others during an emergency until first responders become available.
“You don’t have to be a certified first responder in order to start taking action following an emergency, to help someone until help arrives,” Martinez said.
UPD Lt. Bobby Richardson works closely with Martinez on the Campus Safety Awareness Series every year by extension of being within the Office of Safety and Security. Richardson said he hopes students will stop by to learn how to be better prepared for an emergency.
“I think everyone needs to be able to know how to call 911, provide first aid, use tourniquets to stop a bleed and position the injured,” Richardson said. “They’ll know what to do until help arrives.”
University studies junior Shannon Brown has learned some CPR, but has never been in a position to use it. Knowing others are prepared for emergencies is helpful, and even if only a few people gain skills from Until Help Arrives, campus becomes a safer place, she said.
“If you’re ever in the situation where you could save someone’s life, but you don’t have the skills to do it, but you had the opportunity to learn, that would really be unfortunate,” Brown said.