Photo: Corey Newman
Lacey Newman has experienced the American epidemic of mass shootings first-hand: Two years ago, she was shot in the leg during theRoute 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegasin amassacre that killed 58 people and wounded more than 800.
She joined an organization,CitizenAID, that offers an online training course on first-aid tips like how how to use a tourniquet, where to apply pressure and how to block wounds. Newman is the West Coast ambassador for the organization, and her involvement has given her a sense of empowerment after memories of the shooting left her afraid to leave her house.
“I was very fear-driven,” Newman, a mother from Huntington Beach, tells PEOPLE. “And usually I don’t let things get me down, but I just was so scared that this would happen again and I wouldn’t know what to do.”
That fear put Newman on her current path.
“It gave me peace of mind that I would know what to do if I ever found myself in another similar situation,” she says. “That’s how my life was saved after being shot, was bleeding control techniques.”
Lacey Newman and friend Nicole Aquilina.Destene Albers
Newman says being a part of the organization is a way for her to honor the victims of the attack.
“I know in the situation we were in, everyone tried their hardest for the people that were injured, to keep them alive and to get them to hospitals,” she says. “And, for me this is a really important way that I can honor the 58 lives that were lost that night and of course all the others that were injured.”
Lacey Newman in an ambulance after the shooting.Lacey Newman
For every person trained online, CitizenAID donates a training course — normally priced at $14 — free of charge. So far, the organization has trained more than 10,000 teachers for free.
The group’s goal is to train one million educators for free.
“We have this community of people who will be first responders for each other,” Newman says. “So, if something does happen, if we have an earthquake or whatever it may be, we’re all here and we can all help each other.”
The organization also has a free life-saving app called ‘STOP The Bleed’ that has tips, as well as a free lifesaving kit that includes first aid supplies small enough to be carried in a handbag.
CitizenAID’s free life-saving app ‘STOP The Bleed’ Credit: CitizenAID.
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“It’s a terrible thing what we all went through that night,” Newman says. “But, I’m just happy I can use my voice and my story now to try to save lives.”
“There’s a lot of survivors guilt. There’s a lot of things that go with surviving something like this,” she adds. “I just want to prevent death, is basically my thing. I just don’t want to see people dying that could be saved.”
source: people.com
