Newark schools stocking trauma kits
NEWARK — Newark city schools are the first in the country to buy a central Ohio startup’s new system to help civilians handle injuries that result from school shootings and other violent incidents.
Superintendent Doug Ute hopes the training and treatment kits, from citizenAID USA, won’t ever be needed.
But, he said, "You’ve got to prepare for something like this. If you don’t prepare for it and lives are lost, it’s something that you could have prevented."
It’s a sign of the times, as officials increasingly focus on securing schools and ensuring students and staff are safe.
The district employs a resource officer at the high school, has installed special door locks to secure classrooms, and has adopted communication systems that can quickly alert emergency responders to violent incidents.
The new treatment kits and training will provide added support if students or staff are injured and awaiting medical treatment.
CitizenAID was founded in the United Kingdom as a nonprofit offering the training resources.
Longtime Granville emergency responder Bob Otter co-founded citizenAID USA, with offices in Westerville and Washington, D.C., to offer the same resources.
The company has a free phone app with instructions for dealing with wounds. And the kits, which sell for about $45 each, include tourniquets, pressure dressings and other basic supplies for dealing with wounds.
Part of the issue with shootings at schools and elsewhere is that buildings have to be secured before paramedics can enter, Ute said. In some cases, that process has taken hours to complete.
In the meantime, a person can bleed to death in minutes from a gunshot or other wound to a femoral artery, Otter said.
The Newark school board recently approved spending about $15,000 to place 500 of the citizenAID kits in its 11 buildings by this fall. The district also secured licenses for 600 teachers, staff members and others to complete online training for stabilizing gunshot and other wounds.