Stop the Bleed

Keep students and staff safe at school

Keep Students and Staff Safe at School

Students are currently going to school in a variety of settings, whether that is at home, in person, or a mix of both. However, as districts slowly welcome their students back to full in-person learning, it is important that schools are adequately prepared to keep their students safe in case of an emergency.

Traumatic Bleeding and Stop the Bleed

From 2013 to 2019, there were 549 incidents of gunfire on school grounds. Unfortunately, this number shows how important it is for districts to be prepared in case of a tragic event. In general, uncontrolled bleeding is the leading cause of preventable death in trauma patients. Providing students and staff with the proper training to respond to these situations is key not only for incidents involving gunfire, but also for other instances where traumatic bleeding can occur. The American College of Surgeons’ Stop the Bleed program is a great initiative that trains people on what to do in case of an emergency. You can shop Stop the Bleed kits, tourniquets, and more here.

Cardiac Arrest

According to the American Heart Association, cardiac arrest occurs in about 7,000 children outside of the hospital each year. This, coupled with new COVID-19 research showing that the virus has the potential to affect the heart, means that schools need to be prepared with the proper equipment in case of a cardiac emergency. As schools open, it is imperative that they check their AEDs and AED accessories for signs of wear.

  • Verify that AED batteries are working and have not expired.
  • Check the service indicator light.
  • Check for any wear and tear on the AED.
  • Ensure that AED pads and accessories are not expired.
  • Consider adding additional AEDs and signage in high traffic areas such as hallways, main building entrances, gymnasiums, cafeterias, auditoriums, and nurse’s office.

Fire Prevention, Burn Treatment, and Weather Emergencies

The National Fire Protection Association states that from 2014-2018 fire departments responded to an average of 3,230 structure fires in schools per year. The organization also found that school fires mostly started in bathrooms or locker rooms. After being closed throughout much of the last school year, it is imperative that schools check that their fire systems, including fire alarms, fire extinguishers, cooking equipment and water-based protection systems and sprinklers, are still fully functional. When it comes to weather-related emergencies, it is important for schools to have working weather monitors to stay informed on severe weather as well as a well-rehearsed plan of action in case of a tornado, or other event.

In addition, make sure your building has:

  • Working exterior lighting with timers or motion sensing capabilities
  • Working intrusion alarms, ventilator openings, and roof hatches
  • Trees, bushes, and other plant life trimmed to keep areas around the building clear
  • Trash receptacles stored away from buildings
  • Monthly fire drills with students and staff so that everyone knows all evacuation procedures
  • Proper equipment to for fire prevention and fire treatment
  • Proper emergency evacuation equipment

School Lockdown

In the United States, firearms are the leading cause of death in children and teens, according to Everytown. The organization also states that so far in 2021, there have been 18 incidents of gunfire on school grounds across the country. In 2020, there were 67 incidents. In light of these numbers, schools need to have a lockdown plan in place, regularly practice lockdown drills with students and staff, and have the necessary lockdown supplies and emergency equipment on hand.

Drug Deactivation

In a 2017 survey from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2.2 million adolescents between the ages of 12-17 were illicit drug users. In case of an overdose emergency at school, the National Association of School Nurses states that it is the responsibility of the nurse to respond and give medication like Naloxone, or other drug deactivation assistance, since they would be the first health professional to come in contact with a student experiencing an overdose emergency.

Accidents and Injury

Accidents and injury can happen at any time, so schools need to be prepared with the proper supplies like first aid kits and accessories, including blankets and emergency lighting. Common cause of injuries at school include bullying, slipping and falling, playground accidents, food poisoning, school bus accidents, and sports injuries.

Check your first aid kit for:

  • Working flashlights and/or two-way radios with good batteries.
  • Check the expiration dates and packaging on any antibiotics or ointments in the kit.
  • Replace any supplies in your kit that looks like it has been used up.

It is impossible to predict an emergency, but it is possible to be prepared. By having the proper emergency procedures in place as well as the necessary equipment and supplies, schools can ensure the safety of their staff and students if an emergency occurs.

Visit our School Safety Center to see our full selection of emergency equipment and resources.

 

 

Important Links

https://everytownresearch.org/maps/gunfire-on-school-grounds/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2887168/

https://everytownresearch.org/report/the-impact-of-gun-violence-on-children-and-teens/

https://www.schoolhealth.com/blog/equipment-guidelines-and-recommendations-for-reopening-your-facilities/

https://www.heart.org/en/news/2018/11/09/defibrillators-may-help-kids-survive-cardiac-arrest

https://www.nasn.org/advocacy/professional-practice-documents/position-statements/ps-naloxone

https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/Building-and-Life-Safety/Structure-fires-in-schools

https://www.usfa.fema.gov/coronavirus/planning_response/covid19_fire_safety_school_reopening.html

https://blog.nationwide.com/school-fire-safety-checklist/

https://www.parkerlawfirm.com/library/common-ways-children-are-injured-in-school-accidents.cfm

https://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid/first-aid-kits/basics/art-20056673

https://www.weather.gov/grb/schools

 

Posted in AED, Emergency Preparedness and Stop the Bleed

Stop the Bleed and AEDs at the University of Connecticut

We received the following testimonial from Justin Pedneault, the University of Connecticut Rescue President & Training Coordinator. Justin contacted School Health for assistance in getting the university to their goal of being a Heart Safe Campus. 

At the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year, I was working with the University of Connecticut School of Nursing on the Storrs campus to add a second AED to the nursing building. In addition to this, I wanted to add signs throughout the building directing people to the nearest AED, a first response kit and bleeding control kits to both AEDs, and then seek HeartSafe Workplace designation from the Connecticut Department of Public Health.  As part of this process, School of Nursing Dean Deborah Chyun asked me to give a 3-5-minute presentation at a campus-wide forum, with all academic department heads represented, in April 2018.  I gave a quick talk about the need for these improvements and how I was working with the School of Nursing to get them done. Following my presentation, the provost’s office, which put the event together, was flooded with emails asking how to do the same thing in all of the other academic departments and schools on the Storrs campus.

In response, the provost’s office created a committee that included the UConn Fire Department, Michael Zacchera from Hartford Hospital, Dr. Richard Kamin from UConn Health, the Facilities and Maintenance unit, the Office of Planning and Design, the Office of Emergency Management and myself. Our goal was to spend $150,000 towards accomplishing this task in academic buildings by the end of the fiscal year, giving us about 30 days to select equipment and place the first order.  We quickly met and ordered 100 Stryker (Physio Control) CR-Plus AEDs, alarmed cabinets, and 200 stop-the-bleed kits (2 kits with each AED cabinet) from School Health. This included signage and first response kits (mask, gloves, trauma shears, razor, etc.) with each AED. These were destined for all academic buildings on every UConn campus.

We were extremely fortunate that School Health worked with the manufacturer to donate all the cabinets, enabling us to purchase an additional 35 AEDs/cabinets/bleeding control supplies. We have since been given permission to plan for an additional 200 AEDs (with cabinets, first response kits and bleeding control kits) to cover every single building including residential and staff buildings on every single UConn campus (Storrs, Stamford, Hartford, Avery Point, Depot Campus). Our goal is to deliver an AED and bleeding control supplies to any victim in a round- trip walk of less than 3 minutes. This is a requirement to get the Connecticut Department of Public Health HeartSafe Campus designation, which we as a university are working to attain.  We have been working very closely with the DPH and they have been touring buildings with us while selecting the locations for these emergency supplies. Every inch of every building is being evaluated to determine the most beneficial and appropriate locations.

School Health has been a helpful and valuable partner in our effort to meet the needs of a large, complex enterprise like the University of Connecticut that has dozens of academic buildings spread across five campuses. Our goal is to make our campuses safe and responsive places for our students, faculty, staff, and visitors, and School Health has been key in helping us reach that goal.

Outside of my efforts with this committee, I also serve as the President and Training Coordinator for UConn Rescue, a student organization at the University of Connecticut which allows students to gain experience in the medical field with EMS training. This organization meets monthly with EMS continuing education classes and training scenarios for members. A key component of UConn Rescue is our training program. UConn Rescue regularly hosts American Heart Association Basic Life Support for Healthcare Provider CPR/AED classes, AHA Heartsaver CPR/AED classes, AHA Heartsaver First Aid classes, and Stop the Bleed classes each semester. We began offering our first classes in April 2016 after I became an American Heart Association Basic Life Support CPR Instructor. I continue to be responsible for every aspect of coordinating, teaching, ordering, managing instructors for our ever-growing and expanding training classes each semester. UConn Rescue has offered over 1,500 seats for various trainings and trained almost 1,000 students, staff and faculty. These student-run programs meet the training requirement for the Connecticut DPH HeartSafe Campus designation.

While working on the HeartSafe Workplace efforts with the School of Nursing during the spring 2018 semester, I worked on integrating the Stop the Bleed class into the nursing simulation curriculum. The plan was to replace an existing assignment in the nursing students’ junior class schedule during a simulation in their fundamentals nursing class. As such, all undergraduate nursing students will be trained in the Stop the Bleed class before graduation in their junior year fall semester.

I have greatly enjoyed my efforts at the University of Connecticut and I look forward to seeing all my projects through and always seeking to improve existing processes.

Posted in AED and Stop the Bleed