Melina Panagakos to Earn Girl Scout Gold Award with Project: Chatham Stop the Bleed

By Chatham Living

Melina Panagakos, a Chatham High School 11th grader, is earning her Girl Scout Gold Award with Chatham Stop the Bleed, a project that is designed to teach, empower and provide tools for an emergency situation which requires bleeding control. Bleeding Control is the actions taken to control bleeding from someone who has suffered a traumatic injury. By the use of tourniquets, gauze, bandages, direct pressure etc., bleeding is able to be lessened, if not stopped, to better the chances of survival.

To carry out her project, Melina, along with her project advisor, Tim Brown, a local EMT and flight nurse, held training classes with the community as well as teachers and staff at Lafayette Avenue School, Chatham Middle School and Chatham High School. She hopes to hold trainings at the district's elementary schools. Classes included hands on practice with tourniquets and wound packing. Attendees received bleeding certification upon completion.

Melina demonstrating with a tourniquet

"I chose this community issue because of the rise of school shootings in this country, I thought something should be done," said Melina. "Legislation for gun control has been pushed for, but it is a lengthy process and has been met by resistance. Instead of waiting for legislation, I thought that bringing bleeding control awareness to the community would help in giving people the ability to react and save a life if an emergency situation ever came up. If teachers, students, and community members can go into the world feeling able and ready to handle a traumatic bleeding situation they can save lives in multiple different scenarios which is a meaningful and important asset to have."

Melina's goal is to provide each school in the district with bleeding control kits that would be placed by the AEDs, offices, gyms and any other place the principals would like to have the kits. Each kit includes a tourniquet, gauze, trauma dressing, gloves, sharpie and an instruction card. She is raising money through donations from a Go Fund Me campaign, with all donations going toward the purchase of kits. The kits range from $45 for the kit to $115 for the kit with a wall mounted box.

Girl Scout Gold Award projects, which must focus on a community issue, requires a minimum of 80 hours and must have a sustainability element. Melina began researching, training, and working on the project last summer and hopes to complete it by the end of the school year or summer, if more time or training is needed or requested.

Melina Panagakos

Stop the Bleed

• The genesis of Stop the Bleed dates to 2013, following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. The idea was to expand beyond first responders the number of people who know what to do when faced with people who have traumatic bleeding injuries that could result from any kind of accident such as: car accidents, injuries at home, while at work, on a playground, at a gym, etc.

• Sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, it's a national awareness campaign and call-to-action. Stop the Bleed is intended to cultivate grassroots efforts that encourage bystanders to become trained, equipped, and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives.

• A person can bleed to death in less than five minutes, which makes it difficult for emergency medical responders to arrive fast enough to control bleeding and save lives.

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