San Antonio Standard

A San Antonio-area public school district hosted a class on Wednesday that taught staff members how to respond to emergencies in which bleeding is involved.

San Antonio ABC affiliate KSAT reported that a state law that went into effect more than three years ago – House Bill 496 – requires the North East Independent School District (NEISD) and districts across the Lone Star State to offer what’s called Stop the Bleeding training.

According to KSAT, D’Lynn McCartney, NEISD’s assistant director of health services, said five minutes is enough time for a bleeding emergency to result in a death.

“Early intervention is crucial because they’re not going to have the opportunity to be intervened on later,” McCartney, who led the session for the district, told the station.

KSAT reported that participants enrolled in an online course and aced a quiz prior to taking the class.

Participants are taught things such as how to tie a tourniquet.

McCartney said there are three basic techniques when it comes to addressing bleeding emergencies, which involve pressure, additional reinforcement and use of the tourniquet itself, per KSAT.

Among those in attendance was district employee Justin Oxley, who said in the report it’s important for teachers and staff to have access to such tools if the situation calls for it.

“That’s exactly where we as people on our campus can help out when students sometimes get in trouble and have an injury,” Oxley, who earned a certification upon completion of the class, told KSAT. 

The spate of mass shootings in Texas and elsewhere in the U.S. wasn’t lost on the participants. 

KSAT reported that the incident at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde some 80 miles west of San Antonio nearly a year ago made the Stop the Bleeding training all the more important. 

“Unfortunately, these mass violence situations are shedding a light on why it’s so important and definitely helping people understand, you know, why it would be a good thing for them to have,” McCartney said in the report.