'Stop The Bleed' Kits Now Required In Texas Schools
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - You never want to think about a traumatic incident happening at a school, but state lawmakers stress it's important to be prepared.
A new Texas law that went into effect January 1, requires all public schools and open-enrollment charter schools to have a traumatic injury response protocol in place which includes bleeding control kits.
"This is the first line of defense in saving lives," MedStar Operations Supervisor Brian White said. "If someone has a traumatic bleed it can take minutes for them to lose their life, so having a kit like this to help stop that saves lives."
White shows us inside every "Stop the Bleed" kit is a pair of gloves, scissors to cut through clothes and simple step by step in instructions on how to treat an injury.
"It's something anybody can do and there's no super training involved," he said.
White said MedStar has already hosted "Stop the Bleed" training in several North Texas school districts including Fort Worth, Everman and Weatherford.
House Bill 496 requires all Texas schools to place these kits in easily accessible areas, and include them in their emergency preparedness plans.
"It's been proven that if more people know how to just get in initially and stop the bleeding until they can get taken out and taken to definitive care like an ER or trauma surgeon then that will save a life," White said.
Each school district will decide how many of these to place in each school.
MedStar is hosting a free "Stop the Bleed" class Saturday, January 25 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
If you'd like to attend, you need to sign up in advance online.