Blood Goes 'Round and 'Round

BLOOD!

It carries oxygenated blood through our arterial system and perfuses all of the tissues in our bodies and then brings the "waste", deoxygenated blood back to our heart, pumped to our lungs, waste exhaled in the form of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), reoxygenated, sent back to the heart and back to the tissues.

Arteries are high pressure and will "spurt" with each contraction of the heart when cut. The blood is bright red in color due to the high oxygen content.

Veins are low pressure and will "flow" steadily. The blood is dark red in color due to the low oxygen/high waste content.

You will circulate your entire volume of blood in around a minute and the average adult has around 5 liters of blood. If your femoral artery is dissected, you can lose over a liter of blood within the first minute and that is enough to place you into Stage II shock and decreasing your chances of survival down to around 14%, so time is of the essence when it comes to hemorrhage control.

In addition to carrying oxygen and removing waste, our blood contains vital clotting factors which aid us in the event of an injury.

The more blood you lose, the more your body has to compensate to make up for that loss of oxygen carrying/waste removal capability by increasing respirations. Blood loss also decreases your body's ability to thermoregulate, which makes it colder, which decreases the blood's clotting capability (which is already impaired due to losing clotting factors), which makes you bleed more, which decreases oxygen carrying capability, which increases waste buildup, which increases chances of death....A very vicious cycle and one that can be avoided by keeping the blood in the body where it belongs.

Whether it's arterial or venous, blood belongs in the body. It’s science. Try your best to keep it there. Learn how to stop the bleeding quickly and get the products which will assist.

Direct Pressure, Tourniquets, Hemostatic Agents or Pressure Bandages—The bleeding and situation may dictate what you utilize first. Our Direct Action Response Kit (D.A.R.K.) has the necessary components. All you need is the training and we can help you out there, as well. The mindset? Well, that’s up to you.

Remember, whether you do anything or not, all bleeding will eventually stop.