Purcell Teachers To Receive 'Trauma Kits,' Training For Classrooms

Teachers in Purcell are learning lifesaving skills this summer to take back to their classrooms.

The training is centered around 'trauma kits" that hold everything needed to stop the bleeding in an emergency.

“Day to day, life at any moment there can be an accident,” said Evan Pendleton, Operations Manager at Wadley’s EMS. “Just having access to these tools is beneficial.”

Those tools are inside a red bag, like gauze sponges, abdominal pads, trauma dressings, tourniquets, and scissors. Purcell Emergency Management Director Rachael Huey partnered with local businesses to pack 100 trauma kits that will go inside every classroom within the Purcell Public School District.

“These kits are simple, they're basic, anybody can use them, and the concept is to control that bleeding,” Huey said.

Huey says the idea stemmed from discussions around active shooter events during a recent meeting in Grady County with Emergency Managers from other local jurisdictions.

 “It's spreading like wildfire,” Huey said of the idea. “They've done away with the school nurses nowadays most schools don't even have that.”

These kits are not just for Active Shooter events but any scenario where injuries can occur like tornadoes, earthquakes, or accidents.

“Being the first on scene whoever that may be to provide any sort of treatment is pretty essential to saving someone's life,” said Pendleton. “Whether that be one minute or five minutes, it can really make a difference.”

Huey brought the idea to the community and the community answered with nearly $3,000 in donations. Those businesses include Purcell Municipal Hospital, Heart of Oklahoma Insurance Agency, First United Bank, Wadley’s EMS, Oklahoma Farm Bureau Insurance, and McClain Bank.

“Everything was covered in less than a week,” said Sam Demel, Purcell City Manager. “You never know when something happens and if you have it right there in every classroom it's vital.”

Not only are the kits free for the school district, but all teachers in Purcell will be trained in how to use them, utilizing the national standardized “Stop the Bleed” training provided by instructors from Wadley’s EMS.

“I would hope that anyone able to jump in the class and learn will be able to apply these skills,” said Pendleton.

Including students. “Once we get people learning how to use it and what to do, then I feel like we can help a lot of people,” said Purcell High School student Daniel Sprague.

Teachers will begin training in July. Huey says she is working on a presentation to take this idea to other cities in the state this summer and has already had interest, even from out of state.