***Viewer disclaimer: 

ABC7 wants to warn you, any blood you may see is all fake and used for training purposes. 

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Florida Southwestern College in the Cypress Lake community of Fort Myers is now the only location in Southwest Florida where you can learn to “Stop the Bleed”.

The university now has an American Heart Association-authorized training center where you and rescue crews can learn how to save lives by stopping someone from bleeding out until first responders arrive. 

The training can be the difference between life and death. And because of that, it’s offered to everyone, and that includes if you have no medical experience. 

“Stop the Bleed program is an effort coming down from the Department of Defense and the American College of Surgeons,” said program coordinator, Frank Vilchez. 

The goal here is to train as many people as possible because believe it or not, the biggest risk of death after an injury comes from — not the wounds someone may receive, but from bleeding out.

The national average for initial response from first responders is 7-9 minutes, according to Vilchez.

“It can take a lot less than that for someone to bleed out,” he said.

This training shows you exactly what to do in those crucial minutes to make sure the injured person is in the best position possible once the professionals arrive. 

“The more people that can establish this initial bleeding control, the more people overall that can be saved,” said Vilchez.

Vilchez is a first responder himself, working alongside Bill Pappas, another local first responder. 

“Instead of just reading from a script, from a lesson plan, we can apply the real-world scenarios, nuances or curveballs that come at you in the real world,” Pappas said.

Vilchez and Pappas run the program and course offered at FSW, which is not just “Stop the Bleed” but also basic first aid and CPR.

“Starting that CPR initially as a bystander is going to increase the odds tremendously for this person, for us to be able to resuscitate them,” Vilchez said.

The lab has plenty of technology to help them teach — like mannequins with special lights that show trainees how they’re doing during CPR and a supply backpack full of fake blood to control the blood flow that comes from fake wounds.

More practice in these trainings means you’ll be better prepared in an emergency situation.

For more information on this course, click here.