Man saves life of crash victim after taking this class
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Whether it was a nudge from the universe or divine intervention, Jake Allred doesn’t know for sure what led him to be at the right place, with the right tools and knowledge, at just the right time to help save a life. He’s just grateful that a pivotal, scary moment back in 2016 eventually led him to take a Stop the Bleed class at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center (EIRMC).
In 2016, Jake was working as the night auditor for a hotel with an attached nightclub. Occasionally, violence at the nightclub would spill out into the parking lot. The first time Jake witnessed a serious incident where people were injured, he froze up instead of calling 911.
“It was a crazy situation! By the time I snapped out of it, the people involved had already run off, and there was nothing left but blood,” Jake recounts. “It was a pretty jarring experience for a number of reasons. My sense of security was just shattered, and I felt like I had somehow failed a kind of test.”
Jake was determined to never feel that way again. He wanted to be prepared in case there was ever a “next time.” Initially, he took a course to get his concealed-carry permit. As he became proficient with firearms, even working in the firearms industry and participating in competitions, he realized that there would always be a risk of injury either on the job or while competing. If an accident happened, he wanted to be in a position to help, which led him to take Stop the Bleed.
“I heard about it through friends and took my first class at EIRMC at the beginning of 2020,” Jake explains. “It was a solid class, and I took it several different times with a couple different teachers. I learned through my firearms training that you can’t just take a training once. You have to practice a lot in order to learn the movements and to be able to do things right during a stressful situation.”
He committed to taking one Stop the Bleed class every year, along with other emergency preparedness classes. Additionally, Jake stocked his vehicle with an emergency kit and tourniquet, just in case. That dedicated training and preparation paid off on July 16, 2024.
“That was kind of a weird day,” Jake recollects. “I do competition shooting events. Normally, I’m really pumped to go to the competitions; but that day, something just felt kind of ‘off.’ I couldn’t decide if I really wanted to go.”
Despite his lack of enthusiasm for that day’s competition, Jake headed there after work anyway. As he approached the turnoff for the shooting range, for reasons he still doesn’t understand, he turned around and took off for home, using a different route.
“On the way back, I encountered a wreck that had already happened. As I passed, I saw a Mustang in the middle of the road. Then I saw debris, and then I saw the motorcycle on the ground and a group of people huddled around someone. My first thought was, ‘It looks like they’ve got this figured out.’ I was getting ready to leave but thought, ‘No, I need to go check it out.’”
Jake grabbed his first aid kit and went to take a look. The group was standing around the motorcyclist, who was lying on the ground with one leg nearly severed. One bystander had used his belt as a tourniquet, but Jake knew a real tourniquet would be better and got his out of the first aid kit. He and the bystander were able to secure the tourniquet and remove the belt.
“My training from Stop the Bleed automatically kicked in, and I knew what to do. I didn’t even need to really think about it,” explains Jake. “The real hero is the guy with the belt. He knew what to do and did it; he just didn’t have the right equipment. He had the knowledge and skills.”
Even after “passing the test” this time, Jake still went to another Stop the Bleed class afterward. By sharing his story, he truly hopes that other people will be inspired to take the class and be ready to help when needed.
“Anything can happen. The trickiest thing is that you don’t know how you will respond in an intense, traumatic moment until you’re in it. So doing things like Stop the Bleed will help simulate what it would be like to work under a little bit of stress.”
For more information about Stop the Bleed and other community classes offered at EIRMC, go to eirmc.com.