Connecticut Teacher Nearly Loses Hand

A teacher from Vinal Technical High School had a painful partial amputation on his hand after getting it stuck in a wood planer during carpentry shop class.

Officials called the damage a “catastrophic injury”, according to the Hartford Courant.

The teacher had damaged his hand severely enough that there was arterial bleeding that sent him to the hospital.

Trooper Alejandro Bugatti was on scene at the time of the incident and was called in to help the teacher with his injuries.

WFSB mentions that Trooper Bugatti was able to put in an effort to stop the blood loss from the teacher’s hand, by applying pressure on the wound and adding a tourniquet to stop circulation through the broken tissues. He immediately jumped into action, more than likely saving the teacher’s life.

He had learned the skills from the Stop the Bleed campaign, the national campaign held to educate the police force and the public on how to stop excessive bleeding.

As shown in this trooper’s helping hand, these procedures could potentially save a person’s life.

State police were very satisfied with Trooper Bugatti’s lifesaving skills.

They felt his attention to the situation was the epitome of the State Police Academy. The Hartford Courant reports that a person with a serious injury like this one could bleed out and die within five minutes.

Had it not been for this brave individual, the situation could have escalated rather quickly.

Having bystanders present-with the skills necessary to treat someone with a life-threatening injury-is crucial when waiting for paramedics to arrive. The nature of this injury would not have allowed the paramedics to arrive on time.

This is what made having Trooper Bugatti on the scene so effective and time-efficient. The Middletown Press gives a more detailed description of the Stop the Bleed campaign, as well as the steps to take to care for a bleeding injury.

The first step involves putting pressure on the wound and stopping the bleeding, while the last step involves tying a tourniquet to prevent more blood from reaching the extremity.

Persons using these practices should always remember to wear proper protective gear, if available during the situation at hand.

Luckily for the teacher, someone skilled and more than qualified was able to help him with tending to his wound.

IMAGE COURTESY OF MIDDLETOWN PRESS