SEATTLE — Emergency management agencies across the Puget Sound region will distribute over 1,700 bleeding control kits in an effort to make potentially lifesaving tools more accessible.
Officials will prioritize distributing the kits to schools, equipping educators and students with medical supplies such as tourniquets and gauze that can help them address emergencies while first responders are on the way, according to the King County Office of Emergency Management.
After stocking school buildings, officials will consider placing Stop the Bleed kits in high-traffic areas such as transit stations, malls and stadiums, said the agency’s director, Brendan McCluskey.
The Office of Emergency Management is overseeing the purchase and distribution of the kits throughout King County, in addition to their distribution to emergency management partners in the cities of Seattle and Bellevue, as well as partners in Snohomish and Pierce counties.
The emergency management agencies identified kit distribution and training as a priority, given an increase of violent incidents and traumatic injuries across the country, McCluskey said.
“We want to use the funding that we get here to do the most good we can for the community,” he said.
McCluskey said that while officials hope there’s no need for the kits, they’ll be positioned in places where they can be most helpful in saving lives — similarly to how automated external defibrillators designed to treat people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest have been popularized in public spaces.
Those receiving the kits will provide training on how to use them, officials said, and the kits contain an easy-to-follow guide and a QR code for video training.
King County purchased the initial round of kits using Federal Emergency Management Agency grant money, officials said. They received the first wave of kits late last month and plan to purchase more once grant cycles reopen, distributing at least two more rounds of kits over the next few years.
“We have seen time and time again that if initial bleeding from a severe injury can be stopped quickly, the likelihood of a better outcome increases,” Andrea Coulson, King County Medic One chief, said in a statement.
Information on how to control bleeding can be accessed in an interactive online course.
