What I Did

In both February and March, I asked myself "What Can I Do?" with regard to mass shootings. Primarily, I carry at work. I know that the threat to our campus is not going to be some random stranger, but someone we "know" - either a former student or a student's former significant other.

But the question was, "what else can I do?".

In the Renegade Medics' post, they mentioned the following:

"I can’t tell the country how to stop school shootings and I’m not even certain if there is such a solution. Certainly violence seems to find its way to every country eventually and when violence isn’t present, innocent injuries and accidents also occur. I do however know about preventable death and I do know that there are ways that we can prepare faculty and students and equip schools to handle the common injuries seen in these tragic events and if we can at least minimize the deaths, that in itself is progress. Here are some recommendations I have:
-Require all teachers and faculty members to attend annual first aid training specifically related to traumatic injuries such as the DHS “Stop the Bleed” training.
-Make annual “Stop the Bleed” training available to all secondary school students or built into the curriculum. This training can be accomplished in less than half of one school day.
-Require school nurses and other campus medical staff to attend and maintain Tactical Emergency Casualty Care certification (a two day course). This will allow them to oversee implementation in each school and serve as a better resource.
-Identify teachers and faculty members who have experience in pre-hospital medicine such as military veterans and volunteer Fire/EMS personnel who can take on additional responsibilities with implementing a program like this and will be of additional help in an actual event.
-Strategically placed small caches of medical supplies, ideally in individual classrooms. This is to avoid having to leave a locked or barricaded classroom to retrieve medical supplies during an active incident.
-Expand availability and funding for more EMS providers to attend Tactical Emergency Casualty Care training and facilitate more EMS Rescue Task Force training"

I took what they had to say to heart, talked to my Campus Director and got him to agree to mandatory CPR/FA training for all faculty and staff members. In March, we certified 20 employees in CPR/FA for the community. I wanted to make the Advanced Bleeding Control (similar to Stop the Bleed) mandatory, but settled for the basics.

I also opened up a free Advanced Bleeding Control course to staff, faculty, students, and their families. Through that program, I certified 13 people in Advanced Bleeding Control. I wanted to make it as realistic as possible, so I bought some bone-in pork roasts. I shot one with a 9mm and stabbed/sliced the other, so they would have the opportunity to both pack a wound and use a pressure dressing on the other. A bit of stage blood helped to add to the effect.

Knife stab/slash to the "thigh"

GSW to the other "thigh". Bullet hit the bone and re-directed, exiting what would have been the butt cheek.

The students opted to pull down the patient's pants to pack the wound.

Direct pressure, using 4x4s and improvised pressure dressing.

The course was well received and I've already had requests to repeat it, which I'll do on campus again this summer. I had the students use four different kinds of TQs on our practice mannequin, so they could decide which they preferred. Unanimously, they chose the C-A-T, which is good, because that is what is staged.

While I was talking my Campus Director into requiring everyone to be CPR/FA certified, I managed to talk him into dumping money into staging bleeding control kits throughout campus. We now have them prominently displayed in every classroom and lab on campus. No one is more than 10-15 seconds away from a bleeding control kit, no matter where they are on campus.

Coming off of the success of teaching the course on campus, I managed to get permission from the Undersheriff to offer the class to our volunteer Posse members in May, which will allow our volunteers to carry their TQs.

While I can't accomplish everything laid out by the Renegade Medics, I do feel good about the changes I did make and will continue to do so. I hope others take their words to heart and do what you can to make your community (no matter how small or big) safer.

What Can *I* Do, Part II

A couple of weeks ago, I laid out my plan to train all of the staff and faculty in my building.

Luckily, my boss got on board and we got the ball rolling. We came up with a training plan. At our next all staff meeting, we will be getting everyone certified in Basic First Aid and CPR/AED. The staff meeting following that, we will train them on the kits from Stop the Bleed. I do expect some push-back from a few people, but you never know when an accident is going to occur. I fully believe that every person should be first aid/CPR certified beginning in high school, no matter a person's occupation.

On Friday, my life-saving box of goodies arrived.

Inside, there is a C-A-T tourniquet, QuikClot packing gauze, a compression bandage, and a mini sharpie. The price was right, too. $69.00 for a personal kit. I opted for 10 personal kits instead of their big response kit, so that I could stage a kit in every classroom (we're a small campus), the front desk/reception area, and the student lounge. While the bleeding control station is great, what happens if someone is injured in a classroom across the campus from the station? In my mind, it's more important to have smaller kits in multiple locations.

The one thing that the kits are lacking are chest seals, so I'll order sets to add to each pack before I put them in the classrooms.

I consider myself blessed that I have the knowledge and the skills to do this one small thing to prevent deaths on my campus.

Ask yourself, what can you do to help in your workplace?

(Besides carrying everyday, I'm going to assume that if you're one of our GunDivas or GunDudes that you carry whenever you are able.)

What Can *I* Do?

Last week, I read a post shared by Renegade Medics on Facebook. The gist is that everyone in a school setting should be trained in trauma management. Does that mean that secretaries, teachers, and custodians need to be paramedic certified? No.

Credit: Renegade Medics

What it means is that a lot of traumatic deaths (in this case, gunshot wounds) are preventable if people are trained to deal with them. It matters not if a person is pro-gun or anti-gun, we all have the ability to save lives.

I am personally fairly comfortable with treating trauma, as I started my "life" in medicine first as an athletic trainer, then an EMT. Though I currently teach Medical Assistants, I'm still fairly comfortable with trauma. I knew that if something happened at work, I'd be okay handling it, but I was being short-sighted. While I could handle it, could others on our campus?

After reading the post by Renegade Medics, I made up my mind to do something about it, because they are right - everyone on campus should be trained. That's something I can do for my campus - staff and students.

I immediately started texting my boss, telling him that I wanted to place a trauma kit in every classroom and that I wanted to do a staff/faculty training to teach everyone how to use it. I'm not looking at making a full trauma kit - there won't be any IV bags, trach kits, etc. It will be a very basic, oh shit bag, with TQs, chest seals, and packing gauze. You know, basically what I carry in my IFAK. One in every classroom, with all staff/faculty members trained will go a long way toward saving lives.

I know, after every big tragedy, we look around and ask, "what can I do?". Well, this is what I can do.

What can you do? Start by getting training yourself. Here's a great place to start: Bleedingcontrol.org
Look for free classes near you. Or, if you're an instructor, sign up to teach free classes.