Butler County schools teaching students, teachers to treat bullet wounds

Butler County high school students and teachers are training to be “immediate responders” in dressing bullet wounds from gun attacks on campuses under a new program.

And a local medical trauma official predicts the new, on-site training – and “stop the bleed” medical emergency kits – will soon spread beyond the initial four school systems already participating.

The Journal-News has learned Madison, Edgewood and Talawanda schools in Butler County are the first to take part in emergency bleeding cessation classes taught since January by trauma personnel from Atrium Medical Center.

And some teen students at Ross Schools are also being taught trauma medical skills via local police personnel, said school officials.

Last year, Ross teachers were the first in the county to receive bullet-wound treatment training using raw meat infused with fake blood.

The first-time inclusion of medical triage training in local public schools is just one of the many reactions to growing concerns about deadly, armed attacks on schools, which last year saw dozens gunned down at high schools in Florida and Texas - and fatal attacks in recent years at other schools across the nation.

Ann Brock, trauma outreach coordinator for Atrium in Middletown, said some area schools are keenly interested in the training for both teachers and students.

“It teaches them (teachers and students) to be immediate responders in how to stop the bleeding among shooting victims,” said Brock.

“We teach them how to use a tourniquet to stop bleeding, how to pack a bleeding wound (bullet or laceration) with gauze,” among other techniques, said Brock.

“It’s empowering them in what they can do in this sort of situation,” she said.

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