I love seeing practical resources make their way into the hands of the people who may need them most.
Bleeding Control 1-2-3 has officially been added to the National EMS for Children State-Created Resource Library.
The National EMS for Children resource library brings together materials developed by EMSC programs across the country and makes them available for others to download, share, adapt, and learn from. That matters because good ideas should not stay within one agency, one hospital, or one state, especially when they can help us better prepare to care for children during emergencies.
Why Bleeding Control Matters for Children
When we talk about bleeding control, much of our training and many of our resources have traditionally been designed with adults in mind. But children are not simply small adults.
Equipment sizing matters. Anatomy matters. Blood volume matters. Communication matters. And perhaps most importantly, the person standing next to an injured child may not be a healthcare professional at all.
It may be a teacher, coach, parent, babysitter, school nurse, EMS provider, or community member who suddenly has to act.
That is why bleeding-control education needs to be simple, practical, memorable, and appropriate for pediatric patients.
The concept behind Bleeding Control 1-2-3 is exactly that: helping people understand what to do when seconds matter without making emergency care unnecessarily complicated.
Recognize the bleeding.
Respond quickly.
Control what you can until additional help arrives.
Preparedness does not mean turning everyone into an emergency clinician. It means giving people enough knowledge and confidence to take meaningful action while professional help is on the way.
From a Local Resource to a National Library
Having this resource included in a national library is also a great example of something I talk about frequently in disaster and emergency preparedness: we have to stop working in silos.
If someone develops a useful tool in California, there may be a school nurse in Maryland, an EMS educator in Texas, or a pediatric emergency team somewhere else in the country that can learn from it.
We do not need to reinvent every resource 50 different times.
We need to share what works.
That is how preparedness grows, not just through policies and plans sitting on shelves, but through practical tools that can be used in classrooms, ambulances, emergency departments, community programs, and training exercises.
Congratulations to everyone who helped bring Bleeding Control 1-2-3 to this point, including the California EMS for Children Technical Advisory Committee, the California EMS Authority, Solano County EMS Agency, and the many providers who supported the project along the way.
Getting a resource into a national library is exciting.
Getting that resource into the hands of someone who may someday use it to help save a child’s life is what really matters.
Learn it. Practice it. Share it.
Because when an emergency happens, preparedness starts long before the bleeding begins
~Adventures with Nurse Jamla
