Two Stearns County Schools Equipped for Emergencies with Stop the Bleed Kits

(KNSI) — Two local school districts have received funding for kits to better prepare police and staff in the event of an active threat or mass casualty situation.

The program is called Stop the Bleed, and the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office has been involved with it for a while. It teaches people from every walk of life how to respond to a traumatic situation and control a victim’s bleeding if necessary. The purpose is to provide early intervention and application of bleeding control materials to individuals experiencing uncontrolled bleeding and stabilize them for further medical care.

A School Resource Officer identified a need to provide buildings in which the department has a presence to have supplies on hand and training in place. A proposal was presented to the sheriff’s office administration outlining the need for things like tourniquets, gauze, and chest seals in the school for Holdingford, Melrose and Kimball communities. That was handed over to the Holdingford Lions, who provided the roughly $800 needed for bleeding control materials.

The Kimball Lions Club made a similar donation to equip the Kimball Schools with the same materials.

In the near future, Holdingford and Kimball School staff will also be offered the opportunity for training in the “Stop the Bleed” program to “use these materials to provide important life saving measures when seconds matter.”

Further information on the program can be found on their website here.

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