'Stop The Bleed' Kits Now Required In Texas Schools

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - You never want to think about a traumatic incident happening at a school, but state lawmakers stress it's important to be prepared. ​

A new Texas law that went into effect January 1, requires all public schools and open-enrollment charter schools to have a traumatic injury response protocol in place which includes bleeding control kits. ​

Texas schools bleeding control kit (courtesy: AED.com)

"This is the first line of defense in saving lives," MedStar Operations Supervisor Brian White said. "If someone has a traumatic ​bleed it can take minutes for them to lose their life, so having a kit like this to help stop that saves lives." ​

White shows us inside every "Stop the Bleed" kit is a pair of gloves, scissors to cut through clothes and simple step by step in instructions on how to treat an injury. ​

"It's something anybody can do and there's no super training involved," he said.

White said MedStar has already hosted "Stop the Bleed" training in several ​North Texas school districts including Fort Worth, Everman and Weatherford. ​

House Bill 496 requires all Texas schools to place these kits in easily ​accessible areas, and include them in their emergency preparedness plans. ​

"It's been proven that if more people know how to just ​get in initially and stop the bleeding until they can get taken ​out and taken to definitive care like an ER or trauma surgeon ​then that will save a life," White said.

Each school district will decide how many of these to place in each school.

MedStar is hosting a free "Stop the Bleed" class Saturday, January 25 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

If you'd like to attend, you need to sign up in advance online.

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