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The safety of students at NS is a huge priority to many parents and teachers. School nurse Shauna Rawlinson and the school officer Greg Peterson have come up with a new medical supply for the students’ safety, which includes bandages, saline, sterile water, and tourniquets.
Although the schools already have first aid kits available, not everything is there that could possibly be needed if an emergency were to occur, such as a shooting, fire, earthquake, or any situation that puts the students in danger. The new triage bags and reunification kits will bring on that extra protection and medical care that may be needed.
“Parents put a lot of trust in their kids being safe at school,” said Rawlinson, “and now we really have to say, ‘Look, trust us that we are still making your student a priority and their safety.’”
With the help of Dr. Allen Day, the district has saved thousands of dollars for this project. Day is donating the bags to the school and has found the best deals for the supplies needed to go into the kits. With the funds that NS has saved up along with Day’s help, the project has finally fallen into place.
“It’s really been a priority for some time,” said Superintendent Nan Ault. “It just takes a while to get everything in place.”
As Rawlinson participated in a mock shooting three years ago at NS, she realized the schools didn’t have everything they needed to keep the students safe. From that and personal experiences her kids went through, she and Peterson were able to join forces with their projects and create the triage bags and the reunification kits.
These kits will include a lot of bandaging, saline, a CPR kit, tourniquets, quick clot (a bandage that clots blood faster to prevent bleeding), sterile water for rinsing, and other items. In an emergency, this kit will provide the medical care needed for students in the time when EMS is still transporting to the incident.
“If we already have the stuff here,” said Rawlinson, “then we know whoever is here will be able to take care of it.”
From the very beginning of the project, Rawlinson and Peterson have had the end goal of being able to give the best equipment available for the students’ protection, and that end goal has not differed. They still continue to find the best equipment and keep the students safe, no matter how much work and money this project requires from them.
“We kinda brainstormed and said, ‘What would we want for our own children if there was an accident?’” said Rawlinson. “That’s kinda how we approached this.”
Although no one wants to be put in the situation of having to use these new supplies, it is worth the money to make sure it is available in the incident where it may be needed.
“The thing that I learned is, don’t ever assume it’s just going to go smoothly,” said Rawlinson. “You have to plan for the worst.”
On the list for the training of the equipment, teachers and staff are with the students the most and therefore need to be trained on how to comfortably use the equipment. Across the nation, the first responders are always coaches. Coaches are currently an important part of being familiar with the supplies that are in the bags.
“If you’re not comfortable, you won’t use it,” Rawlinson said, “so we want them to be comfortable with the bags.”
Everybody hopes that the day will never come when these bags are used. However, it is always going to be worth the money to provide every school in the district with these bags.
“The hope is that we never use it,” Rawlinson said, “but if we have it, we can.”
