Would you know what to do in a life-or-death crisis?
After numerous good Samaritans jumped into action to save lives during Sunday's horrific mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, the situation has prompted many to ask: Would you know what to do in a life-or-death crisis?
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Speaking with Inside Edition, Dr. Mike Varshavski offered several tips on what you can do to help.
If someone is shot, the most important thing to do is stop the bleeding, and put pressure on the bullet wound as quickly as possible, he says.
"When you put pressure on it, you are clamping down the arteries, clamping down the capillaries," the medical resident popularly known as "Dr. Mike," told Inside Edition. "Sometimes the bleeding is too much and you need a pad or shirt fabric, anything to stop the bleeding. If that doesn't work, you need to make a tourniquet."
He said that you can make a tourniquet out of “anything you can wrap around an arm or leg."
The tourniquet should always be applied above the wound.
“You want to go two to three inches above the wound, closer to the body, and tie it up — warn the person it's gonna hurt — tie it down as hard as you can,” Dr. Mike said. “That will clamp off the blood so more blood will not escape from the body.”
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Concertgoer Johnathan Smith was shot in the neck after leading people out of the "kill zone." An off-duty cop stuck his finger into the bullet wound, an act that probably saved Smith's life.
“If it wasn't for him, I probably would have bled out,” he said.
Dr. Mike said he heard about the finger in the wound treatment, but doesn't recommend it.
“I don’t advise putting a finger in a wound," he said. "You could do further damage to the artery that was already shot and wounded.
"What I would say is if you put enough pressure with your finger or two fingers onto the wound, you are doing the same exact job without risking more injury to the person who has been shot."
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