Initiative would save lives after school shooting

Jennifer Murray, director of trauma services at Cabell Huntington Hospital, was at the Lawrence County Commission meeting Thursday afternoon to talk about an initiative being pushed for Lawrence County schools.

“We participate and administer a course called ‘Stop the Bleed,’ which came from our regulating body, which is the American College of Surgeons, which verifies us as a level 2 trauma center,” she said. “They developed this course following the Newtown shooting in Connecticut. After everything was examined, it was determined that four or five kids could have been saved but bled to death.”

She said that the course teaches a lay person how to identify life-threatening bleeding and how to stop it, including how to pack wounds, place tourniquets and tell the difference between different types of bleeding.

“One of the first things that medical personnel and EMS learn is that you can’t go into a situation until law enforcement makes sure the scene is safe,” she said. “This course teaches students what they can do in the event of a tragedy.”

Along with the course, “Stop the Bleed” provides kits containing tourniquets and gauze, and has already been pitched to Chesapeake Elementary School with the other Chesapeake schools, Rock Hill and South Point already scheduled.

Commissioner DeAnna Holliday said that not only is this program good for children at schools, but it can also be taught to government entities, offices and more.

“This is something that everyone would be able to find very useful,” she said.

In other action, the commission:

• Received and filed the Grand Jury Report, dated Feb. 28, 2018.

• Received and filed the weekly Dog Warden Report, dated March 24, 2018.

• Received and filed the EMS Report for the month of March 2018.

• Approved four transfer funds.

• Approved Aaron Jackson, Union Rome Sewer (URS), as the Agent of Record for the Collins Career Technical Center plant.

• Approved and hired Paul Rideout as part-time EMT for Lawrence County EMS, effective April 5, 2018.

• Received and filed the correspondence from Glen Daily regarding Township Road 1186 to the Perry Township Trustees.

• Received and filed the correspondence from Ironton Mayor Katrina Keith regarding the Scioto-Lawrence Solid Waste Management District’s annual cleanup day. The event will be rescheduled from May 5 to sometime this fall.

• Terminated the contract with NRG and signed the contract with Enernoc for Demand Response.

• Appointed Greg Kline as proxy for the Lawrence County Commissioners to sign for the CCAO Cebco in Columbus on April 13, 2018.

• Approved one floodplain permit.

• Met in executive session with Lawrence County Chief Deputy Auditor Chris Kline regarding personnel; hire, fire, reprimand. The administrative agent for the Appalachian Family and Children First Council will be changed from the Lawrence County Department of Job and Family Services (DJFS) to the ADAMHS Board, effective May 1, 2018.