UAB

KIDS WHO SHINE MEGHAN GOYAL, 18

BY STEPHANIE GIBSON LEPORE

Like many students at Birmingham’s Altamont School, current senior Meghan Goyal chose to participate in the Miree program, where a requirement is implementing a Miree Project based on individual interests that serve a need in the community. Meghan, the daughter of two Birmingham doctors, chose Stop the Bleed. The national program’s goal is “to make our nation more resilient by better preparing the public to save lives if people nearby are severely bleeding.”

“I was born and raised in Birmingham,” says Meghan, “and I’ve always had a passion for understanding my community’s history and envisioning its future.” When she began to search options for her Miree Project, she decided to first ask herself a basic question: “What does my community need? I decided to pursue a project at the intersection of healthcare and public safety, which was Stop the Bleed. I partnered with the UAB branch of Stop the Bleed, which is run through the UAB Trauma Center, to provide professional training at Altamont for the entire faculty, as well as interested upper schoolers,” she explains.

The campaign originated with the American College of Surgeons and Hartford Consensus, who aimed to teach people to control blood loss after an incident such as a shooting, explosion, or car accident, thus improving a victim’s survival chances until medical professionals can arrive on-scene. The number one cause of preventable death after injury is bleeding—a person can bleed to death in as little as five minutes. Stop the Bleed teaches bleeding control “quick actions” that can train bystanders to save a life: Call 911, Apply Pressure with Hands, Pack Wound and Press, and Apply Tourniquet.

Meghan estimates about 20 upperclassmen joined the school’s faculty for the training, which entails an hour-long presentation of trained nurses and officials demonstrating how to properly apply a tourniquet. Trainees are also walked through the process of calling law enforcement/medical professionals, addressing the wound, and stabilizing the victim, she says. Training does not require recertification like CPR.

One important piece of the organization’s efforts are its on-site trauma kits, which come

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF MEGHAN GOYAL

Altamont student Meghan Goyal implemented training for teachers and other students in partnership with Stop the Bleed UAB.

with a tourniquet and various other tools and instructions for bleeding control. Meghan hosted a bake sale at Altamont and used the funds she raised to purchase five tourniquet kits that are now placed around the school.

“It was my initial goal to train the entire upper school at Altamont and expand this education to schools in the Birmingham City School District,” says Meghan. “But I was unable to because of Covid.” Last March, Meghan recorded her Miree Defense, another requirement of every participant.

“My defense consisted of a PowerPoint presentation that detailed my project—including its setbacks, successes, and what I wish I could have done—as well as a brief speech about how I have grown as a leader through the Miree Center,” says Meghan, who—though she hasn’t completely ruled out a career in medicine or health care—plans to major in political science and economics in college this fall. She goes on to explain that, because most upperclassmen who participated have graduated, or will graduate this year, “I hope to pass down this project so that the next round of faculty and high schoolers can be trained too.”

For more information about Stop the Bleed, visit stopthebleed.org.

TEEN TALK LINE (205) 605-1830

PARENT TALK LINE (205) 605-1827

compact2020.com

TEENS — Have questions? Concerned about things? Just need someone to listen? Talking helps. Whether you are having a great day or a tough day, give us a call. We are here to listen.

PARENTS — Think your teen might be involved with substance abuse? Have questions? Concerned about your teen? Wondering how to handle your teen’s choices? Just need someone to listen to you? Talking helps.