NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Gun violence is rampant in the streets of New Orleans and practically every day there’s a new victim. The critical moments from the time someone is shot to when they arrive at the hospital can be the difference between life and death.
Many times, those victims are wheeled into the operating room of Dr. Lance Stuke.
“We see so much gun violence here, that caring for gunshot victims is second nature for us,” said Dr. Stuke.
Dr. Stuke is a trauma surgeon at UMC. He treats shooting victims every day but it doesn’t get easier with time.
“I think what bothers most of us as trauma surgeons are the innocent victims, and I think we’re seeing a lot more of that certainly within the last one to two years. With the shootings on the interstate, with the carjackings, and a lot more innocent victims who are at the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Dr. Stuke.
In an effort to save more of those victims, the doctors at UMC have adopted techniques used in combat and apply them to the operating room.
“We’re able to employ different clotting agents, different devices to insert directly into the aorta to stop distal bleeding and certainly using resuscitation techniques that were developed on the battlefield by the military,” said Dr. Stuke.
And he says there’s something each of us should have with us at all times, and it’s also used on the battlefield: a tourniquet.
“We lose patients routinely who bleed out on scene without a tourniquet in place that they could’ve survived otherwise,” said Dr. Stuke.
UMC is offering free classes to teach citizens about bleeding control, visit http://umcno.org/stopthebleed to find out how you can sign up.
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