Public schools in Monongalia County are a little more prepared for an emergency after Mon Health Systems donated more than 200 Stop The Bleed kits.
All of Monongalia County’s 19 public schools will have kits, and Mon Health personnel trained all of the school system’s nurses to use the equipment, Pat Cornell, special operations supervisor for Mon Health EMS, said.
Adam Henkins, director of safe, supportive schools and athletics, said he researched something similar about six months ago, after a school resource officer suggested the idea, but the school system couldn’t afford the cost.
Not long after, Cornell reached out to him and said “let’s do it.”
Cornell estimated about $30,000 was spent on the kits.
“This was something we felt we could do,” David Custer, executive director of Mon Health EMS, said.
The kits will provide quick access to life-saving treatment in case tragedy strikes, Custer said.
He said there have been several important events in recent years that make these kits necessary.
The program was founded in response to the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook, N.J., Cornell said.
“There is absolutely nothing more important to us in Monongalia County Schools than the safety of our students,” Superintendent Eddie Campbell said.
He called the donation “an incredible blessing” and said he’s thankful Mon County has community partners who are willing to work with the school system to provide safety for its students.
Stop the Bleed is a national program involving several national medical organizations with the goal of training the public to stop uncontrolled bleeding in emergency situations, according to a Mon Health Systems press release.
Each kit contains a tourniquet, gloves, combat gauze, medical shears, a compression bandage and quick clot. The kits are vacuum sealed to help maintain sterility, Cornell said.
The school system’s nurses went through a two-hour train-the-trainer session and will educate teachers on how to use the kits, Cornell said.
Susan Haslebacher, supervisor of school health, participated in the training and said it was great and covered how to use all of the items in the kit, using a hands-on approach.
The nurses learned how to control bleeding for situations from gunshot wounds to accidents, Cornell said.
“They’re awesome,” Officer W. Bender, a Morgantown police officer and Morgantown High School’s school resource officer, said. “Any tool we can get to help save a life, you can’t put a price on it.”
