This is what we've come to.
Denver Health is offering four free training sessions next week in how to tie a tourniquet in an emergency situation.
Because when there is an active shooter, paramedics might not be able to get to you very quickly.
"When someone is injured and bleeding, it can take as little as three minutes for it to become a life threatening situation," Justin Harper, assistant chief of Denver Paramedics, said in a press release. "Because minutes count, we want to teach community members how to respond to a life-threatening bleeding injury should they ever be in an emergency situation like the one that occurred in Orlando."
Denver Health usually offers this training once a month for a cost of $35, but June 20 to 23, there will be a class each afternoon from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and it's free.
Classes are at the Rita Bass Trauma and EMS Institute, 190 W. 6th Ave. This is just on the other side of Sixth from the main hospital campus, at the corner with Bannock. Register online at www.denverems.org.
Denver Health has taught tourniquet technique to police officers around the country, and tourniquets have saved at least nine officers' lives in the last three years, including four locally.
It's first aid in a violent world.
"We hope community members never find themselves in a situation where they would need to apply a tourniquet, but just like CPR, knowing these lifesaving skills can make all the difference in an emergency," Harper said.
