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A Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg senior eying a career in emergency medicine is turning campus spaces into safer places by pairing bleeding control kits with the familiar defibrillator boxes in hallways.

His mission is simple but ambitious — give the campus community the capability to quickly act in those critical first minutes when severe bleeding can turn survivable injuries into tragedies.

“Emergencies do not wait for the right time or place,” said Milnes, a senior chemistry pre-med major who’s also a certified emergency medical technician. “They can happen on campus, in the community, or anywhere students may find themselves.”

As vice president of the and president of the , Milnes said he viewed the Stop the Bleed campaign as a meaningful opportunity for students to gain practical experience.

“Many of our members plan to enter medicine or health-related fields, and giving them access to a hands-on, lifesaving skill felt like an obvious and valuable addition to our clubs,” Milnes said. “It allows students to build confidence, contribute to community safety, and take part in an initiative that aligns with the future careers they are preparing for."

From summer camp to campus

Milnes first encountered Stop the Bleed while working as an EMT at a summer youth program hosted by the Northampton Borough Fire Department, where local teens spend a day learning basic EMS skills.

Watching campers quickly master tourniquet use and wound packing convinced him that short, focused training sessions could transform bystanders into first responders long before an ambulance pulls up.

That experience stayed with him as he returned to Bloomsburg, reinforcing a belief that lifesaving knowledge shouldn't be reserved for professionals in scrubs or uniforms. If a teenager at camp could learn to control life-threatening bleeding, Milnes thought ... then so could a roommate, lab partner, or professor caught in an emergency on campus.

“The youth camp showed me how quickly anyone can learn these skills and how even a short training session can have a drastic impact on the outcome of a very serious emergency,” Milnes said. “That experience made it clear that Stop the Bleed is a program worth bringing into every community I am part of.”

Lowering the barrier to act

Stop the Bleed is a national campaign that teaches people to recognize dangerous bleeding and control it using three core techniques: applying firm pressure, packing a wound, and using a tourniquet when needed. The program was launched through a federal partnership led by the American College of Surgeons’ Committee on Trauma, with the goal of empowering laypeople to intervene during everyday emergencies and mass-casualty events alike.

For Milnes, who has treated uncontrolled hemorrhage on ambulance calls, that empowerment is the heart of the appeal. He knows that blood loss can become fatal within minutes, and that a nearby student or staff member who knows what to do can stabilize a victim well before paramedics arrive.

“Stop the Bleed aligns closely with my professional interests because it reflects the core of what I want to do as an emergency medicine physician,” Milnes said. “My work as an EMT has shown me how often patient outcomes depend on the first actions taken before a provider even arrives. Eventually, I would like to become an emergency medicine physician and believe part of that role is not only responding to emergencies but helping prevent avoidable loss of life through community education.”

Turning leadership into lifesaving lessons

Back in Bloomsburg, Milnes used his roles with the Premedical Sciences Club and the Biological and Allied Health Sciences Club to turn a personal passion into a campus-wide initiative.

“Like all physicians and healthcare professionals, I feel a responsibility to teach preventative skills that empower the public to act when every second matters,” Milnes said. “Bringing Stop the Bleed to Bloomsburg allowed me to put that belief into practice. It gave me the opportunity to strengthen community preparedness, involve future health professionals in meaningful hands-on training, and contribute to a culture of safety on campus.”

With support from Lehigh Valley Hospital–Muhlenberg’s trauma team, he organized a training session that blended classroom instruction with hands-on practice in recognizing life-threatening bleeding, applying commercial tourniquets, and packing deep wounds. The message threaded through each scenario was clear: serious injuries do not wait for ideal settings, and the person standing closest—whether on a sideline, sidewalk, or science lab floor—may be the one who makes the difference.

Training was only half of Milnes’ vision, half was making sure when students stepped up to help, the right equipment would be within reach. Through the American Trauma Society of Pennsylvania and other partners, he helped secure donated Stop the Bleed kits — compact pouches stocked with tourniquets, gauze for wound-packing, trauma shears, gloves, and simple instructions.

Each of the 32 students who completed the inaugural training left with a personal kit, turning them into mobile resources for bleeding control wherever they go. At the same time, additional wall-mounted kits have been installed next to automated external defibrillators in busy areas around campus, echoing a growing national trend to pair defibrillation and hemorrhage-control tools so immediate responders can address both cardiac arrest and severe bleeding in the same locations.

On a campus where eight bright-red bleeding-control kits now share wall space with AEDs and fire extinguishers, Milnes’ efforts are quietly reshaping what it means to be prepared. In empowering the campus to act when seconds matter, he’s helping train not just future physicians and nurses, but a community that refuses to stand by when a life can still be saved.

“Stop the Bleed resonates with me because it gives anyone the ability to act during a moment of life or death,” Milnes said. “A person does not need medical training to make a difference. They only need confidence and knowledge to step in.”