CINCINNATI — This week marks eight years since a shooter opened fire in the middle of downtown Cincinnati.

Three people were shot and killed that day, but one survivor, Whitney Austin, is turning her pain into purpose.

Austin was shot 12 times during the mass shooting in Cincinnati’s Fountain Square. She said officers helped save her life by stabilizing her before she could get to the hospital.

“I’m okay. There have been so many people that have poured into me, and I am so grateful for that,” Austin said.

Austin said the scars on her arm are a reminder of the care she received in the moments after the shooting.

“One of the things that helped save my life was putting two tourniquets on my left arm and stabilizing me before I could get to the hospital,” Austin said.

Austin later started Whitney Strong, an organization that joined UC Health to teach people how to keep someone from bleeding to death. The short class is led by Dr. Tim Pritts, a trauma surgeon who helped save Austin’s life.

“The average response time in the tri-state region, somewhere between 7 and 10 minutes, you can bleed out in as little as five minutes,” Pritts said. “And so the goal is for the first responder, if you’re the bystander on the scene or even for yourself, you want to be able to save a life and it may be your own by doing Stop the Bleed techniques, applying pressure, and then applying a tourniquet and buying time until the EMS and firefighters get there.”

This year, Whitney Strong added a blood drive with Hoxworth Blood Center, bringing out donors for the first time.

“If donating blood can help save another Whitney, then I want to be a part of that. So I’m conquering my fears,” said Megan Cole, a blood donor and Whitney Strong program director.

Organizers said they plan to continue holding blood drives, both for emergencies and to help address blood shortages.

Ashley Smith, a spokesperson for Hoxworth Blood Center, said type O-positive and O-negative blood supplies have dropped.

“I would say especially our types O positive and negative, we have seen a dip and that has been rough to recover,” Smith said.