The Illinois Terrorism Task Force today announced significant steps to improving trauma management training at schools in Illinois. Following the recommendations of the School Safety Working Group, more than 7,000 STOP the Bleed kits have been distributed to schools in Illinois ahead of the 2019-2020 school year.
STOP the Bleed is a national campaign intended to train, equip and empower bystanders to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives. A STOP the Bleed kit contains a C-A-T tourniquet, QuikClot Bleeding Control Dressing, Emergency Trauma Dressing, MicroShield Mask, Nitrile gloves, Trauma shears, Permanent marker and Instruction card.
“Our top priority will always be preventing violence from occurring, but we must also be prepared for worst case scenarios.,” said Acting IEMA Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau. “STOP the Bleed kits and the training that comes along with them can save lives and I applaud the Illinois Terrorism Task Force for implementing this program statewide.”
This summer, the Regional Offices of Education distributed one STOP the Bleed kit to each school in Illinois. Each school district is being asked to train a minimum of five teachers/staff in each building where children attend school. Upon completion of this training, the Illinois Terrorism Task Force, via the Regional Offices of Education, will distribute an additional five kits to the school.
“STOP the Bleed kits provide the tools to help the public save lives, but the knowledge and confidence to save a life comes with proper training,” said Mary Connelly RN, Director of the Illinois Medical Emergency Response Team (IMERT). “With more certified trainers, the mission of helping and protecting our communities can grow.”
The Illinois Terrorism Task Force is calling on those in our medical community, volunteer organizations and police and fire community to join this mission. In order to meet the demand of the more than 5,000 public and private schools in Illinois, more trainers are needed to provide this invaluable hands-on training. IMERT, in collaboration with the Illinois Department of Public Health Division of Women’s Health, has pledged to train one thousand school nurses by February 2020. Yet, even more help is needed. The 90-minute STOP the Bleed training was developed by the American College of Surgeons specifically for the public and is offered by trained healthcare and public safety volunteers at no associated cost to the school. To find a training course, or learn more about how your organization can help provide training, visit www.Ready.Illinois.gov.
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, Sep 4, 19 @ 3:37 pm:
My eight year old was telling me about the various drills they do at school. One is when they quietly walk outside single file (fire drill). Another is when they all go into the hallway and duck down and cover their heads (tornado drill). The last one is when they hide and have to be really quiet (2nd Amendment drill).
- very old soil - Wednesday, Sep 4, 19 @ 3:43 pm:
Makes me want to cry
- Quibbler - Wednesday, Sep 4, 19 @ 3:45 pm:
Every ounce of effort put into this program is effort that could and should be spent cracking down on gun dealers and manufacturers.
See also: https://splinternews.com/the-market-cant-solve-a-massacre-1823745509
- Henry Francis - Wednesday, Sep 4, 19 @ 3:48 pm:
The best way to stop the kids from bleeding is to arm the teachers, so the kids never get shot, right?
Heck, let’s arm the kids. The more guns there are, the more solutions there are to the problem.
Do I have that right NRA?
- LoyalVirus - Wednesday, Sep 4, 19 @ 3:51 pm:
This is absurd & obscene. We have armed police and security guards in school. We have active shooter drills. We have medical supplies for when an incident happens. Yet how many of these schools have trained mental health professionals on the premises to handle the day-to-day issues students have? Let alone the trauma of attending a school where all the previous exists w/out care about mental & psychic well being? We need social workers, counselors - people who could potentially STOP an incident before it comes to fruition.
- Just Lurking - Wednesday, Sep 4, 19 @ 4:02 pm:
There are nearly 3000 kids at my daughter’s high school. Do they get two kits? /s
Time, energy and money spent on this initiative would be far better spent on addressing the emergence of white nationalism in schools, like with the Western States Center’s Confronting White Nationalism in Schools Toolkit that Rich mentioned a few weeks ago. /no snark
- SSL - Wednesday, Sep 4, 19 @ 4:09 pm:
Sadly, this is necessary. Until a time when there is adequate gun control, if that’s even possible, and mental health services are properly prioritized, there needs to be training.
The core problems won’t get fixed in my lifetime.
- @misterjayem - Wednesday, Sep 4, 19 @ 4:19 pm:
So the firearms fetish now requires that our teachers receive combat medic tools and training.
Guns are a hell of a drug.
– MrJM
- Nagidam - Wednesday, Sep 4, 19 @ 4:29 pm:
They would be better off putting these bleed kits on the corners of areas of Chicago that have the highest concentration of gun violence.
Did I get your attention? Good… 43 shot with 8 fatalities over Labor Day Weekend. A bunch of comments about how we worry about a potential shooting in a school, but nobody wants to talk about actual shootings that happen every day.
Mass shootings are horrific, and I understand why people focus on them. How about we talk about why gun violence in our cities is happening. How about we talk about stocking schools with counselors that can get to the kids to talk about the violence in their neighborhoods. How about we have job opportunities. How about after school programs for kids. I can go on, but nobody wants to listen. Let’s just put bleed kits in suburban schools and pray they never get used.
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, Sep 4, 19 @ 4:47 pm:
===nobody wants to talk about actual shootings that happen every day.===
That’s nonsense, but your concern for young black and brown men in Chicago is noted.
The fact is, most of the firearms used in school shootings were purchased legally, while most of the firearms used in Chicago’s daily violence are purchased illegally. The common denominator is the firearms. And blood. Lots of blood.
And some of it is on the hands of those who refuse to do something to control the flow of firearms in this country. It doesn’t have to be this way. We’ve changed our Constitution before. We can do it again.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Wednesday, Sep 4, 19 @ 6:26 pm:
==but nobody wants to talk about actual shootings that happen every day.==
So you found out about this how? If no one is talking about it, then you were there?
- Nagidam - Wednesday, Sep 4, 19 @ 7:33 pm:
@the small foolish wolf
That was the dumbest comment I may have ever read on CF. We are all dumber for reading it.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Wednesday, Sep 4, 19 @ 7:41 pm:
So how DID you find out about the 43 people shot?
- Just a pawn - Wednesday, Sep 4, 19 @ 7:44 pm:
I have car insurance - I hope to never need it.
I have life insurance - I hope my family does not use any time soon.
I hope every school gets these kits - I hope no school ever needs to use them.
- Illinoised - Wednesday, Sep 4, 19 @ 8:12 pm:
STOP the NRA.
- Nagidam - Wednesday, Sep 4, 19 @ 8:22 pm:
===So how DID you find out about the 43 people shot?===
You literally are making Sen. Ted Cruz look intelligent. You can’t see the forest for the trees.
Yes the shootings are being reported so indeed “people are talking about it”. But nobody is talking about solutions but want to fixate on mass shootings. Please try to keep up.
- Nagidam - Wednesday, Sep 4, 19 @ 8:27 pm:
@Just a pawn
You are not wrong.
My point, that evidently I am describing extremely poorly, is all the air is about mass shootings and not every day violence. My semi-snarky comment about putting these kits on street corners actually makes more sense than putting them in classrooms praying they never get used. We know statistically they will be used on the street corners.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Thursday, Sep 5, 19 @ 8:19 am:
Yes people are talking about solutions to shootings and killings. They are talking about it everyday. It’s on the news constantly. I would say it is our national obsession. I would agree with you in the sense that a lack of consensus among voters makes it look like inaction. It’s more like paralysis. Some people think gun control is the solution, some others think mental health services is the solution, some people think jobs are the solution, etc. or removing lead pipes is the solution. Others are against these things or don’t want to pay for these things.
Murder is the second sin in the Bible. Cain killed Abel. (The first was eating an apple.) After all this time we still haven’t figured out how to keep Cain from killing Abel.
- Give Me A Break - Thursday, Sep 5, 19 @ 8:56 am:
Brought to you buy the GOP, NRA and people trying to compensate for some short coming in their lives.
- Jocko - Thursday, Sep 5, 19 @ 9:19 am:
==They are talking about it everyday.==
The key speakers (Trump & McConnell) appear to be mum on the topic…not to mention Texas legislators who just allowed firearms in churches, schools, apartments, and disaster areas…hours after after a shooter exploited a gun show loophole.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Thursday, Sep 5, 19 @ 9:57 am:
==The key speakers (Trump & McConnell) appear to be mum on the tropic.==
Trump loves nothing more to use Chicago’s tragic gun violence as a talking point to bludgeon Chicago leaders. But when I said people are talking about solutions everyday I wasn’t thinking about Trump specifically. I meant you can go to a mainstream media outlets and and find an article or a opinion piece or a speech offering or exploring a solution. You can do this everyday.
The problems of shootings was a even a major issue in our recent mayoral election. This is not something that no one is exploring solutions to. If anything there are so many variables to these shootings that they will not solved with one magic wave of the wand but with several solutions.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Monday, Sep 9, 19 @ 9:49 am:
Nagidam: here is a quick Google search of some well read newspapers that have articles/opinion pieces about prevention/solutions to (non mass shooting) violent crime just this month of September. Number of articles:
New York Times 4, Washington Post 5, Chicago Tribune 3, USA Today 1, LA Times 1, Chicago Sun Times 1, Business Insider 1, the Atlantic 1. What do you have to prove your point besides ad hominem attacks?