Community West Foundation Donates 60 ‘Stop the Bleed’ Kits to Fairview Hospital

Thanks to a $26,000 donation from Community West Foundation, Fairview Hospital has joined the national initiative to put ‘Stop the Bleed’ kits in area schools.

The nation-wide initiative is in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings several years ago.

Using the $26,000 Community West Foundation grant, Fairview Hospital acquired 60 containers, each holding four individual kits. They will be donated to the Lakewood, Fairview Park, Olmsted Falls and Olmsted Township school districts.

The official donation took place on  Oct. 8 at Fairview Hospital with Hospital President Neil F. Smith and Fairview Hospital Chief Medical Officer Dr. Timothy Barnett presiding.

“After the 2012 (Sandy Hook) shooting, where 20 students and teachers died, it was recognized a lot of those lives could have been saved if there were local efforts available to stop the bleeding,” Barnett said.

“We listened to the community in our focus groups. We heard what they wanted, and thanks to the diligence of Dr. Barnett and Bill Sillasen (Regional Director of Emergency Service), we were able to make this a reality,” said Dr. Smith. “Thanks goes to them and of course Community West Foundation.”

Stop the Bleed is a national program intended to enable users to assist in a bleeding emergency before professionals arrive. The units feature items to help stop hemorrhages, including a tourniquet, bandages and gauze, and trauma scissors.

In addition to kits being installed in local schools, the cities’ respective fire departments will be responsible for training teachers.

“A lot of our local fire chiefs and EMS personnel are trained on Stop the Bleed,” Barnett said. “They’re trained instructors who will go out to the schools and do the education. The kits will be housed in the hallways of the schools if they’re ever needed.”