Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Jason Everett | Sgt. Patrick Bennett, a recruiter for South and East Marshalltown for the Iowa...... read more read more
“Working in this community you take an interest in these kids - their lives and their futures,” said Sgt. Patrick Bennett, a recruiter with the Iowa National Guard. “So providing this training gives me peace of mind."
The “peace of mind” Bennett referenced is the small, but important role he has developed in Tama school district’s school emergency training. He teaches a “Stop the Bleed” class and has done so for students and school administrators on several occasions.
Bennett teaches this class just as he learned it in the Iowa National Guard. He demonstrates packing a wound with gauze, wrapping a wound using an emergency trauma bandage, and how to stop an arterial bleed using a tourniquet. He then brings out a box filled with medical supplies and walks the room as the trainees practice “stopping the bleed” on a mannequin limb and each other.
Preparing for emergency events is a jarring and tragic reality. John Cain, Superintendent of the South Tama School District, knows this too well as Tama is 90 miles from the town of Perry, where a school shooting recently took place. Therefore, school safety is foremost on his mind.
“School safety is a part of what we do and ‘Stop the Bleed’ is one step in that preparation,” said Cain. “We want to have as many staff on campus trained to respond with an approach that can save lives.”
Sgt. Bennett’s training is just one part of a series of measures brought on by a 2021, $100 million initiative by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. Other measures include emergency response training for first responders, digital applications for threat reporting, and an emergency radio system for all schools. Collectively these measures have expanded school safety mechanisms and bolstered existing ones.
This layered approach of training and developing partnerships strengthens the network of response. “It's going to take everyone involved in the field of safety. And the Iowa National Guard is part of our defense,” said Cain. “It's important to get all those elements together in one place and familiar with what training has been provided so we can all move forward as one.”
The Iowa National Guard gives emergency response training to all its service members and offers similar training to those in the community, especially schools and businesses, who request classes. For Bennett, he’ll continue to offer the “Stop the Bleed” training in the school district on a monthly basis and his vision extends beyond Tama.
“My hope is that the Iowa National Guard will get into every school district in the state of Iowa and pass on the same training,” said Bennett. “So, unfortunately, if an active threat event were to happen again the school is prepared, the students are prepared, and the teachers are prepared.”
| Date Taken: | 03.14.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 03.18.2024 09:11 |
| Story ID: | 466236 |
| Location: | IA, US |
| Web Views: | 118 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Iowa National Guard Provides Public Safety Training, by SFC Jason Everett, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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