Students from a Junior ROTC program assembled dozens of Stop the Bleed kits to be placed in every classroom at their San Marcos, Texas, school.
Members of San Marcos Academy’s JROTC program teamed up with local first responders at the Baylor Scott & White Medical Center to put together 60 kits, reports KVUE.
“We didn’t have these before and now we have them so if something were to happen it’s a lot safer now that we have like gauze, gloves and all the things like tourniquets that helps stop the bleeding so we can save lives,” student Mitchell Howard told KVUE.
All teachers at the academy have received training on how to use the kits, which include gauze, bandages, gloves and tourniquets.
Back in April, fifteen San Marcos Academy staff and faculty members participated in the country’s first Civilian Response and Casualty Care (CRCC) course, according to the academy’s website.
In the four-hour course, created by the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center at Texas State University, participants discussed physiology and stress reactions during a traumatic incident, and the history and prevalence of mass attacks. They also learned basic trauma care and life-saving medical intervention techniques, including wound-packing skills using pieces of pork tenderloin.
The Christian academy, which provides day school for grades K-12 and boarding for grades 6-12, will soon offer a modified version of the course to upper and middle school students.
“We want them to be prepared to take action if they need to save themselves, to save their teacher, to save fellow classmates and that way if – heaven forbid – an actual occurrence happens, they’re prepared and they’re not going to panic,” said Amy Bawcom, vice president for development at the school.
The Stop the Bleed Campaign was developed following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. As of Sep. 2019, more than one million people have been trained in bleeding control.
