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BUCKHANNON – Several local organizations collaborated to raise funds and purchase trauma bags and LifeVacs for each Upshur County school.
The Upshur-Buckhannon Health Department, Upshur County EMS, Adrian Fire Department and Number One Auto Sales worked together to purchase emergency aid equipment for Upshur County schools. Brian Wright, prevention resource officer for Buckhannon-Upshur elementary schools, approached the groups to see if they could help provide kits for emergencies, such as a school shooting.
“My job is to protect kids, and I’m always thinking about the worst-case scenario. I want to prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” Wright said. “I’m thinking, ‘What if we did have a mass casualty shooting?’ I started asking the nurses if we had everything we would need in that situation, and they told me, ‘No.’”
Wright said he approached Sue McKisic, nurse director at the Upshur-Buckhannon Health Department, to see if she could help provide needed items for trauma bags.
“Sue is amazing. She took care of us. She set us up with no-bleed kits, anti-choking devices, and we came up with these bags. She’s done a lot of work,” Wright said.
Members of the organizations gathered in front of Buckhannon Academy Elementary School on Friday to help distribute the trauma bags and recognize the groups that raised approximately $6,000 to cover their cost.
“We are recognizing people who made donations, and we are recognizing people who brought it to our attention that we needed trauma bags in the school system in case there would ever be an incident where we had several people bleeding,” McKisic said. “Technically, EMS cannot go into the building until it’s been cleared by law enforcement, so, in a case of an active shooter, that building has to be cleared, and we want to be able to protect these kids, save their lives.”
McKisic recognized Adrian Volunteer Fire Department for contributing $500. The Upshur-Buckhannon Health Department contributed $1,450 from a Pallottine Foundation grant, Number One Auto Sales purchased the LifeVacs for school cafeterias, and the Upshur County EMS covered the rest of the cost.
“School employees have been trained on Stop the Bleed, and there are Stop the Bleed items in their trauma bags. Sixteen of those have already been donated to the schools,” McKisic said. “One trauma bag is going to go to every elementary school. The middle school is going to have more than one on hand, and so is the high school, and then two are going to the Christian Academy.”
The trauma bags include abdominal dressings, QuikClot gauze and more Stop the Bleed kits.
The LifeVacs purchased by Number One Auto Sales are designed to help people who are choking after the Heimlich maneuver fails.
“A LifeVac is an assistive tool if the Heimlich maneuver does not help with a choking person,” McKisic said. “You do attempt the Heimlich maneuver several times, but if that doesn’t work, this LifeVac is a thing that goes over their mouth. You pull the apparatus to create a suction, and hopefully it will bring up the lodged food item or whatever it would be.”
Shea Phillips, general manager of Number One Auto Sales, said he was approached by McKisic for the donation.
“Sue reached out to us saying they needed some help, and I have three young children myself. Two of them are in the school system right now, so I wanted to do whatever I could to help keep our kids safe,” Phillips said. “We were willing to help any way we could, and that was where they needed help the most, so we were glad to do it.”
