Event
Stop the Bleed
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
Stop the Bleed teaches anyone to control life-threatening bleeding in the minutes before help arrives, using three techniques: direct pressure, packing a wound, and applying a tourniquet. The classes are short, hands-on, and free.
The next Central Oregon class is on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Crook County Fire & Rescue Annex, 205 NE 4th Street in Prineville, hosted by Crook County Fire & Rescue and St. Charles Prineville. Sign up through the Stop the Bleed interest form on Crook County Fire & Rescue's website, or call 541-447-5011. Workplaces can request a class for their staff the same way, and St. Charles' trauma program offers classes in Bend as well.
Once you've taken the course, you're ready to help. Medical professionals and first responders can go further and volunteer as Stop the Bleed instructors for schools, workplaces, and community groups.
Organizations taking part
Stop the Bleed is the American College of Surgeons' national program, run under a license from the U.S. Department of Defense, that teaches everyday people to control life-threatening bleeding before help arrives. Its short, hands-on course covers three techniques: direct pressure, wound packing, and applying a tourniquet. In Central Oregon, St. Charles Health System's trauma program and Crook County Fire & Rescue offer free classes.
Anyone old enough to understand the material can take a free hands-on course and be ready to help in a bleeding emergency. People who have taken an ACS Stop the Bleed course and fall into an approved instructor category, such as medical professionals and first responders, can register as instructors and volunteer to teach classes for schools, workplaces, and community groups.
St. Charles Health System is Central Oregon's nonprofit health system, operating hospitals in Bend, Redmond, Prineville, and Madras along with family care and specialty clinics, hospice, and community health programs, serving people across the region.
Volunteers serve at St. Charles hospitals and clinics in Bend, Redmond, Prineville, and Madras, greeting and guiding patients and visitors, supporting patient units and waiting areas, staffing gift shops, and helping with hospice and caregiving programs. Teen volunteer opportunities are also offered.
Crook County Fire & Rescue provides fire, emergency medical, and ambulance service from Prineville. Alongside its career crews it relies on volunteer and resident firefighters, and it teaches the community too, including free Stop the Bleed classes in partnership with St. Charles that train residents and workplaces to control life-threatening bleeding.
Volunteer firefighter/EMTs respond to medical calls, crashes, and structural and wildland fires, and can train to drive apparatus and ambulances. A resident program lets volunteers live at a station on rotating shifts with a stipend, and an education program reimburses fire science and paramedicine courses at COCC. Volunteers must be 18+, pass a background check, serve 16 hours a month, and attend monthly training.
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