It’s been about a year since Santa Maria resident Scott Hunter retired after 30 years in firefighting and started offering free classes to Central Coast residents on ways to block massive bleeding injuries during violent incidents.
The classes are part of a national awareness campaign called Stop the Bleed, which Hunter said was first launched by a coalition of first responders in 2013. In the same way that everyday citizens can learn CPR, Stop the Bleed trains people to stop major bleeding as bystanders during emergencies.
While the campaign was initially a direct response to the 2012 school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Hunter said it started to take off in 2017, when it became clear that incidents of mass violence were becoming increasingly common.
Hunter, who is also a trained EMT and part-time faculty member in public safety at Allan Hancock College, instantly loved the idea.
He has a saying: “It’s not a matter of if, it’s simply a matter of when.”
“The when happened,” Hunter told the Sun.
At about midnight on May 5, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office received reports of a shooting at the Oceano Dunes. State Parks responded, according to a SLO County press release, and multiple victims were treated for gunshot wounds, including six who were rushed to local hospitals for further treatment.
SLO County Sheriff’s Office detectives were dispatched to assist, and after taking the lead on the investigation, later arrested suspect Francisco Orozco, a 19-year-old Oakland resident, on attempted murder charges in connection with the shooting.
No further information was available as of press time, according to the SLO Sheriff’s Office, and the investigation is ongoing.
Hunter plans to help residents and park goers take safety measures into their own hands. He hopes residents will start to realize that emergencies can happen anytime, anywhere, and that it’s best to know how to save a life in that situation.
“For us living on the Central Coast, it hit close to home,” Hunter said, “and for some people, for the people the Oceano, it happened in their backyard.”
The Stop the Bleed classes are completely free of charge and typically run for about an hour and a half. Hunter said one Stop the Bleed report found that 32 percent of those killed in the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, died of massive bleeding wounds that could have been repaired and treated had the victims not bled out. A person can bleed out in four to five minutes, Hunter said, and that can be prevented by bystanders waiting for emergency personnel to arrive.
While Hunter’s most recent Stop the Bleed training was scheduled for May 8 in Cayucos, he said he hopes to host more in the wake of the Oceano shooting. The plan is to do two each month—one in northern Santa Barbara County and another in SLO County.
“This is a very important training, especially in the world we live in,” Hunter said. “I feel it’s something everyone should take. It’s basically turning citizens into first responders.” Δ
This article appears in May 9-19, 2019.
Thats an impressive public service. Thank you to Scott Hunter for his dedicated public service. As a resident of Oceano, Id like to schedule a class but dont know how to contact Scott. Brenda Lowe
I guess this is an editorial so feel free to use it that way. If you need more identifying information from me, please post a contact number and I will call in. Heres what I want to say:
New Times…. Thank you so much for your May 9, 2019 edition! It has very accurate and valuable information about the struggle to keep our local fire and emergency services funded. The community of Oceano really appreciates your article about Templetons plan to address this need by sponsoring a ballot initiative. I pray it passes, but a 2/3 YES vote is hard to achieve and previous attempts have failed. Please keep these articles coming so that other SLO county residents can learn about our options to keep our excellent fire and emergency services funded and showing up when we need them!!
As a senior citizen residing in Oceano, I admire the efforts of all these dedicated public servants throughout SLO County. Kudos to Templeton for making this effort. Hopefully the citizens of Templeton, Oceano and the other under funded communities will see the wisdom of financially supporting these direct services and good response times to our calls for quick help. When we NEED them for fires, accidents or emergency help, we assume they will come running to the rescue when we call 9-1-1. But when their tax dollar support isnt sufficient, we as local citizens need to step up and pay as we go.
We are the direct beneficiaries of having these services close at hand. Relying on generous volunteers has its severe limitations. So lets step up and fund professional, local fire services. These smsll fire departments have been trying to get grants, retain volunteers, look under rocks and squeeze blood from turnips in order to provide us this service. Thats admirable and appreciated. But heres another truism: you get what you pay for.
Nobody likes to contribute more taxes, but if we educate people and have exhausted all other funding options, I think we should support initiatives like this. Lets step up and do our part to help. Our lives depend on it! Brenda Lowe, resident of Oceano
I used exclamation points above, but they dont show up. Sorry
Please correct the headline. The shooting did not occur in Oceano; it took place in the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area.