Longview ISD has been ahead of the curve when it comes to taking care of students and faculty in scenarios where bleeding may need to be stopped thanks to a commitment to putting a Stop the Bleed kit in every classroom in the district.
Signed into law on June 15, 2019, by Governor Greg Abbott, House Bill 496 requires all Texas schools to install bleeding control kits. Thanks to some donated Stop the Bleed kits from the Longview Fire Department during the 2018-19 school year, LISD has been moving towards putting a kit in every classroom. This commitment far outdoes H.B. 496 as the bill only requires campuses to have the kits but not in every classroom.
“We’re ahead of the curb. We were already training people and putting kits in classrooms before H.B. 469 came out,” said Assistant Superintendent of Administrative and Pupil Services Dennis Williams. “The whole premise behind Stop the Bleed is in school shootings and anything else…most of the challenges have come from injuries to the leg or arm and because they cannot get assistance immediately, they bleed to death.”
Currently every nurses’ office and 1/3 of the classrooms have the bleed kits with the goal currently being getting the other 2/3 within the next two years.
“We’re going above and beyond. Not only does it help if there is a mass catastrophe, but also for general classroom incidents,” said Longview High School Nurse Kimberlie Dans. “It’s a good thing that every classroom will have access to it. Some of our students are already trained to use them at our high school with the EMT program.”
The bill also requires faculty to receive training with the kits as well as offer training for students in grades 7-12.
“I liked that the training was hands on. You can read a book but then if you end up in a situation and not know what’s going on,” said Foster Principal Ryan Carroll. “We have it planned for our students to be trained. May is national Stop the Bleed month. Once it gets past testing, we can teach the students those skills. I think it will be comforting for parents to know that their child has a lifesaving skill that can help them in life.”
Stop the Bleed kits include: Tourniquet, gauze, wound packing gauze, gloves, blanket, Sharpie (to write the time that the tourniquet was applied), trauma dressing, scissors, chest wound seal and instructions for how to use the items in case a refresher is needed.
“We hope that we will never have to use any of these Stop the Bleed kits, but if something does happen we have an understanding of how we can save lives until the situation is dealt with,” Williams said. “It is like insurance; we’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.”