NICK FIORINI/Sun-Gazette Correspondent From left: Mark A. Trueman, prehospital operations manager; Kelly Coppadge, of Alta Resources LLC; Mark Barbier, of Alta Resources LLC; Dr. Richard Poole, district safety coordinator; Dr. Timothy S. Bowers, district superintendent; Craig Konkle, of the Lycoming County Department of Public Safety; and Tony Bixby, prehospital operations director.

NICK FIORINI/Sun-Gazette Correspondent
From left: Mark A. Trueman, prehospital operations manager; Kelly Coppadge, of Alta Resources LLC; Mark Barbier, of Alta Resources LLC; Dr. Richard Poole, district safety coordinator; Dr. Timothy S. Bowers, district superintendent; Craig Konkle, of the Lycoming County Department of Public Safety; and Tony Bixby, prehospital operations director.

The delivery of Stop the Bleed kits to the Williamsport Area School District Monday will enable faculty and staff members to become better equipped to handle major injuries in classrooms and other areas of the school. The kits were given to the district by UPMC Susquehanna.

In all, 17 kits, each containing eight individual kits were delivered to the district. They will be placed at each of the district’s schools for public accessibility. According to the district, an additional eight kits also were donated for the schools through a contribution from several natural gas companies.

The local program is part of a UPMC Pittsburgh initiative which is based on national standards and protocol, according to Tyler Wagner, communications manager at UPMC Susquehanna.

To date, the local hospital through Susquehanna Regional EMS has trained 2,500 people in the area how to use the kits.

They also have trained and supplied tourniquets to state police officers within the local barracks as well as to over 70 other municipal law enforcement officers, over 200 church leaders at Crossroads Church, volunteer fire and EMS, hospital staff and community watch groups in Lycoming County, according to Wagner.

Dr. Richard Poole, the school district’s director of student services and district safety coordinator said, “This training empowers staff to be able to assist and save lives in an emergency situation where someone may have been severely injured. By having the kits available in all buildings, it means an injured person can be treated and a life saved before professional help arrives.”

Each kit contains gloves, compressed gauze and trauma dressing, shears, a pad, tapes and a tourniquette.

The premise of the national campaign is that bystanders always are the first people on the scene of an emergency. A person who is bleeding can die from blood loss within five minutes. By providing the kits, the nearest person to someone with life threatening injuries would be best positioned to provide first care.