Ohio Boy Scout installs FASTER Trauma Kits in school, trains teachers on use

In 2014, Buckeye Firearms Foundation announced an initiative to put a trauma kit in every school building in Ohio. Now, one Boy Scout from northwest Ohio accomplished that goal by providing kits and medical training to his local school as an Eagle project.

Levi Baus, a 15-year-old Life Scout from rural Archbold, Ohio, recently completed an extensive Eagle project involving the purchase and installation of FASTER Saves Lives medical trauma kits, and providing training to help teachers receive the life-saving skills they need to use the kits in an emergency.

Baus raised nearly $5,500 to purchase 80 medical trauma kits, and recently led a team of other Scouts in the installation of the kits in every classroom in Archbold Area Schools, along with a few common areas.

This week, teachers attended a class which Baus says gave teachers the knowledge and skills they need to use the kits effectively.

"The trauma kits are more advanced first aid kits; they include items such as chest seals, compression bandages, tourniquets and more," Baus observed. "The kits are intended to treat life-threatening injuries such as puncture or bullet wounds.

"When this type of injury occurs," Baus adds, "someone may lose their life before help arrives. These kits are made to provide immediate treatment to someone in a critical situation."

Most school buildings have a first aid kit and an AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) with personnel trained to use them. On the other hand, few schools have a trauma kit with the supplies needed to deal with trauma injuries, such as those that can occur after a parking lot or shop class accident, severe cuts, a bleacher collapse, a weather catastrophe or a violent attack.

Baus believes that because there is a delay between injury and advanced medical care, schools should be equipped to respond immediately and care for such injuries.

“Just as an AED is used to preserve the life of a heart attack victim,” Baus continues, “trauma care preserves the live of a trauma victim until help arrives.”

Class objectives were to train participants to treat preventable deaths. These include extremity hemorrhage (bleeding from arms/legs), junctional hemorrhage (bleeding from shoulder/pelvis), tension pneumothorax (collapsed lung) and airway obstruction.

In just a few hours participants learned how to prioritize treatment of multiple victims. They now know when, why and how to treat the trauma injuries most likely to result in death.

Baus made arrangements with instructors from the Ohio-based FASTER Saves Lives program to provide a powerpoint presentation. He and several other trained Scouts then provided hands-on training to the teachers on how to use the kits.

Although, because he is home-educated, Baus does not attend classes at Archbold, he is excited that his Eagle project is helping his local school system.

"Many of the boys in my Troop attend classes at Archbold, and I have other friends who attend there,” Baus says. “The school is part of my community and I saw the need to help it be a safer place."