Madison Twp. Lt. John Harper said the township started looking for something they could do for their own local school district after the West Liberty-Salem school shooting in Jan. 2017.
RELATED COVERAGE: West Liberty-Salem school shooter appeals for new sentence
“It’s something you hope you never have to use but it’s there just in case,” he said. “If you can stop the bleed, that increases your chances of survival tremendously.”
Harper said he and Madison Twp. EMT Steve Saunders came across Jacob’s Kits on a Facebook post from a fire department in South Carolina.
The trauma kit was named after Jacob Hall, a 6-year-old student who was wounded in a 2016 school shooting in Townsville, S.C. The kit includes a CAT tourniquet, a trauma (or Israeli) bandage, chest seals to cover gun shot or stab wounds to the chest, two sets of gloves, scissors, gauze and a quick instruction booklet.
COVERING SOUTH CHARLESTON: Robot helps Clark County boy, 6, attend school
“We raised a little over $4,000, and that’s enough to provide a kit for every single classroom at the elementary school and the junior senior high school,” Harper said.
Harper said that’s 68 classrooms, and the fire department will be looking for other places outside of the classroom to place the kit.
Harper said all staff in the district has been trained on how to properly use the equipment.
The implementation of the safety device of this magnitude is the first of its kind in Clark County schools.
Aside from Southeastern Local, Northwestern Local has one Jacob’s Kit near the main office that was donated by the Pike Twp. Fire Department, although superintendent Jesse Steiner said he’s hoping the district gets more.
Northeastern Local, Greenon Local, Springfield-Clark CTC and the Global Impact STEM Academy do not have Jacob’s Kits specifically, but do have some sort of first aid kits in place.
Springfield City Schools officials said they have trauma kits in each of their buildings for each school nurse to access.
IN OUR SCHOOLS: Springfield teacher shares beauty of music, awarded Excellence in Teaching
Tecumseh Local Schools Superintendent Paula Crew said the district’s nurses are meeting with nurses from West-Liberty Salem in the next few weeks to discuss specifics on implementing emergency response medical treatment kits.
Crew said those would be installed on the walls in the district’s buildings by each of the AED defibrillators.
Officials from Clark-Shawnee Local Schools were not available for comment Tuesday.
Those who donated to the Jacob’s Kit program at Southeastern Local include Madison Health, Yamada North America, Inc., Florence Realty, Security National Bank, Wilson Printing, Shoemakers IGA, Delaney Plumbing, American Legion Post 176, Journey of Faith Fellowship Church, Buckeye Diamond, Ken Larson and Chris Clark.
Harper encourages another districts to get involved in the program and contact their local fire department for more information.
68: Number of Jacob’s Kits installed in Southeastern Local classrooms
$4,000: Cost of kits provided by community donations
2: Years since the school shooting at West Liberty-Salem that left one student critically injured
The Springfield News-Sun is committed to covering school safety, including the implementation of new safety features in Clark County school buildings.
About the Author