Fox Valley agencies get mass shooting kits
Advocate Sherman Hospital distributed distributed Friday morning nearly 100 free emergency response kits to more than 15 police and fire agencies as part of an initiative to standardize emergency response to such events.
“We're going to push these bags out to you guys with the hopes that, honestly, they expire and you never have to use them. You throw them away in 10 years,” said Justin Williams, the hospital's manager of emergency medical services. “But the reality is, I think we're better prepared today because of it.”
Rutland-Dundee Fire Protection District firefighter Jared Deihs agreed. “Unfortunately, it's become a common event to have to respond to. Having that mindset that ‘It's not going to happen in my town' — you can't continue that anymore.”
The hospital and the agencies, which also include Elgin, Algonquin, Carpentersville, Bartlett, Hanover Park and Streamwood, are members of the Northern Illinois Casualty Response Task Force, formed in November 2014.
“This the first attempt to regionally standardize a continuing care system, from the time a mass casualty situation occurs until the victims arrive at the hospital,” said John Marszalek, regional planning coordinator for the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System.
The kits contain 13 different items, including some new to the Elgin Fire Department, such as Celox bandages, which aid blood clotting, and HyFin chest seals, adhesives for gunshot wounds, said firefighter Mike Przybylski.
“To have it standardized across the region is very important,” Przybylski said. “I might not know what (another firefighter) is using or he might not know what I'm using, but this way we are all trained to use the same things.”
The initiative is funded by $40,000 out of $250,000 in federal grant money obtained by the hospital, said Steve Baron, Sherman's emergency preparedness coordinator. The rest is being used by the hospital for supplies, equipment and more, he said.
The overall goal of the task force is ensure that not only emergency responders but also residents, especially schoolteachers and administrators, are trained to help in the first crucial minutes after someone is wounded, Marszalek said. “The driving force is, if you see somebody that's impaired, you know how to help them,” he said.
To that end, the task force has started to train staff members at Judson University and Community Unit District 300, with the ultimate goal of equipping all classrooms with the emergency kits, officials said.
Judson, in turn, has been offering free emergency response training to faculty, staff and students since last summer, said director of campus security Nick Salzmann.
The trainings, which last about two hours, are also open to the public. Interested individuals can email nsalzmann@judsonu.edu.