Recently, some allegations have been published making claims that the Coalition is not an organization in good standing with the Department of Defense STOP THE BLEED® (STB) Program. As the only non-profit organization specifically formed to support the growth of the STOP THE BLEED® campaign, we want to share a statement made by the DoD, which oversees the campaign:
The Department of Defense’s (DoD) STOP THE BLEED® (STB) Program is designed to train and equip the public to be able to treat traumatic injuries involving severe bleeding until the first responders arrive. Towards that end, DoD has licensed the American College of Surgeons (ACS), the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, and the Stop the Bleed Coalition to develop DoD STB bleeding control courses that can be used by instructors, private organizations, and government agencies to teach the STB course. While the American Red Cross and the American Heart Association primarily provide course materials to their instructors, ACS and the Coalition make their courses available to all qualified instructors.
Both the ACS and Coalition offer quality courses that meet DoD training requirements. By having two sources of training, instructors are free to choose the course and support materials that best meet their needs. ACS qualified instructors do not need to sign up with the Coalition and vice versa. However, it is anticipated that many may want to register with both organizations and thus have access to all support materials currently available. It is entirely up to the instructors to determine which option is best for them.
The STOP THE BLEED® Program’s success comes from the dedicated people that have volunteered their time and energy to provide critical bleeding control training to the public. By providing instructors with more options and expanded access to training support materials, it is DoD’s hope that it will make the instructor’s job easier and improve the overall training experience.
For several years, the Coalition has been identifying and developing services and resources which the campaign needs to grow and offering these to the individuals and organizations powering the campaign. The efforts have included raising money for STOP THE BLEED® Scholarship and Grant programs and, more recently, the new Instructor Licensing Program, as well as the new STOP THE BLEED® course – The Essentials of STOP THE BLEED®.
STOP THE BLEED® is a campaign with a big mission. Starting in the US in 2015, it is a worldwide campaign that has expanded to over 140 countries, with millions of people trained. But there’s lots more to do. The campaign’s ambition is to train 200 Million people in the US and many more abroad. That scale is too big for any one organization to achieve and it’s why the Coalition and other major organizations have joined the cause. Our vision to accomplish this is right on our home page: “Working together, we can save more lives.” We’re grateful for the many partners we have to help tackle this mission and look forward to many more partnerships as we build upon all of the great work done by so many thus far.
