Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is Canada"s home for "Stop the Bleed", an initiative that trains citizens to manage massive bleeding.

As the first and largest trauma centre in the country, Sunnybrook was a natural fit for Stop the Bleed and in August 2017 became the first hospital in the country to offer this free training.

What is it?

Stop the Bleed is an initiative of the American College of Surgeons and the Hartford Consensus. (link to the bleedingcontrol.org website)

Massive bleeding from any cause, but particularly from an active shooter or explosive event where a response is delayed can result in death. Victims can quickly die from uncontrolled bleeding, within five to 10 minutes.

By providing civilian bystanders the skills and basic tools to stop uncontrolled bleeding in an emergency situation, lives would be saved.

Similar to how the general public learns and performs CPR, the public must learn proper bleeding control techniques, including how to use their hands, dressings, and tourniquets.

Only certified healthcare providers can administer a Stop the Bleed course.

Who is it for?

Our certified healthcare providers offer Stop the Bleed training to people that work in public areas or venues who may be a first person scene until a first responder arrives (e.g. security, event staff, teachers, students, vendors etc).

When are the courses?

We will have monthly sessions on site at Sunnybrook that you can sign up for or request your own session with your company or school.

We have the capacity to train small and large (over 100 groups of people at once). We can also run more than one session if needed. We will work with you to find a day and time that is convenient for all.

The training session takes about 1.5 hours to deliver (up to 2 hours for larger groups), including practice.

You will be provided with a booklet that outlines how to recognize and stop the bleeding as a reference tool. You will also be given a certificate of course completion from our trauma program.