Public Schools in Cabell County Now Stocked with Stop the Bleed Kits

Every public school in Cabell County, West Virginia, is now stocked with a “Stop the Bleed” kit, full of supplies designed to help quickly stop blood loss in an emergency.

• By Jessica Davis
• April 26, 2019

Every public school in Cabell County, West Virginia, is now stocked with a “Stop the Bleed” kit, full of supplies designed to help quickly stop blood loss in an emergency.

A Stop the Bleed kit is now present at each of Cabell County’s public elementary, middle and high school campuses, a total of 27 kits donated by Cabell County Emergency Medical Services.

Each Stop the Bleed kit has eight individually vacuum-sealed packs, which contain quick-clot material—cloth with a chemical agent to control blood loss—as well as basic gauze wrap, scissors, a tourniquet and a marker for noting the time materials were applied.

According to Marsha Knight, Cabell EMS Education Director, the kids at designed to be readily available and user-friendly. Staff and students are encouraged to use the kits immediately between the beginning of an emergency situation and the arrival of emergency responders.

Training to use the Stop the Bleed kits is simple and minimal, just packing a deep wound with gauze or applying a tourniquet, Knight said.

"We can train them on basic maneuvers that they can apply until EMS can get there and possibly save someone's life," Knight said. "We just did it with some 7-year-olds, and they got it the first time."

The kits and training are part of the nationwide “Stop the Bleed” awareness campaign the White House launched in 2015 to train and provide the average person with the ability to quickly help those injured in an emergency. While mass shootings are a worst-case scenario, the kits could also be used in any school accidental with a significant threat of blood loss.

"We hope we never have to use a 'Stop the Bleed' kit, but one thing we know is that this will save lives for our students, and being able to have one in every single school is abundantly important," said Ryan Saxe, Cabell County Superintendent of Schools.

Each Stop the Bleed Kit costs $893. The kits will be located beside each campus’ automated external defibrillator (AED).