Stop the Bleed kits distributed to schools in case of emergency

BEMUS POINT, N.Y. — Stop the Bleed kits are the latest addition to emergency boxes at Maple Grove High School, part of the Bemus Point School District in Chautauqua County.

“To keep our students and staff as safe as possible,” said Bemus Point Central School District Superintendent Joe Reyda.

Superintendent Reyda says staff and students have been trained in the use of the kits, an additional safety resource in the event of an emergency.

“We didn’t want to be surprised by certain things,” Reyda said. “In case of an accident. In case someone falls. In case someone gets slashed. In case something bad happens, we know how to respond appropriately.”

The kits include a number of first aid tools including gauze, medical seals and tourniquets.

The kits, along with training, were initially made available to first responders nationwide after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012. They were later offered to others after the Uvalde shooting in 2022.

Content is created based on consistent injury patterns in many of these locations.

“This specific equipment allows us to combat these types of injuries in a way that civilian personnel or minimally trained medical personnel can do it and become proficient in a short period of time,” said Joshua Schauman, education coordinator EMS. Chautauqua County Emergency Services.

Schauman is presenting the kits to leaders in every county district, like Bemus, in response to a growing trend of shootings.

“We’re not willing to talk about it, so all we had to do was realize that we have to stop hiding from this and we have to face it,” he said.

Schauman says they can also be used as a multi-purpose first aid kit which he would like to see in school districts across the state.

“And support that training and really make sure that those kits are where they should be and the staff is trained on how to use them. I would like to see us be a model,” Schauman said.

Reyda is grateful for the 10 Stop the Bleed kits his district received thanks to financial support from local foundations.

“It allowed us to do something we might not have been able to do,” he said.

To help obtain the kits, the county received more than $25,000 in grants, thanks to the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation and the Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation.