RI emergency officials train residents on how to assist victims during a mass shooting

CRANSTON — A Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency initiative has developed the state’s first “active threat plan” to guide the response to a mass shooting.

According to EMA Director Marc Pappas, a key part of that plan is teaching 1,500 Rhode Islanders how to stop heavy bleeding.

This week, the agency distributed 20 special medical kits at an event outside its headquarters.

The Active Response Kits provide medical equipment for treating heavily bleeding wounds: tourniquets, wound dressings, pressure bandages, chest seals and more.

“As we know, the unfortunate truth is that active shooter situations have become a way of life in America,” Pappas said. “While we cannot prevent them, we can take countermeasures to minimize the damage and loss of life.”

What you should know about the Stop the Bleed campaign

Representatives of local public safety organizations, including fire departments and the U.S. Coast Guard, attended the recent training.

Two Mass Casualty Incident Response Vehicles and a Rhode Island Medical Reserve Corps transport, part of Operation Stop the Bleed Rhode Island, were also on scene.

The red kits containing MOLLE webbing (which stands for “modular, lightweight load carrying equipment”) were stacked on a table.

“All this equipment is nothing without a plan and nothing without training,” Pappas said.

Employees at the various facilities that received the equipment are eligible for “Stop the Bleed” training led by Brooke A. Lawrence, executive director of the Rhode Island Medical Reserve Corps.

Here’s the best way to help people at a crime scene: Stop the bleeding

Hemorrhage is the cause of death for about 35% of trauma victims, who die before arriving at the hospital, Lawrence said in an interview.

And 90% of those deaths could have been prevented, he said.

Lawrence identified three key areas of focus when people are rapidly losing blood in shootings: applying tourniquets to limbs as needed; filling wounds in joint areas such as the neck, pelvis and shoulders; and applying sealants to chest injuries.

The Reserve Corps’ “Stop the Bleed” training program aims to provide “everyday people” – teachers, parents, health professionals and other community members – with the knowledge and skills they need to do their jobs.

Approximately $110,000 for planning, equipment procurement and training

The newly developed active threat plan is the product of a partnership between the Emergency Management Agency, the Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association, the Department of Health and the Medical Reserve Corps, Pappas said.

The cost to create the plan and purchase the kits was $110,000 and was covered by Federal Emergency Management Agency funds, Pappas said.

At 160 pages, the document is in draft form, Pappas said. The state will not release the plan when it is completed because it contains sensitive information of a tactical nature, he said.

Officials say mass shootings are a matter of ‘when’

Key public safety leaders in the state say they are not blind to the strains that have increased as episodes of gun violence have led to mass deaths and injuries in cities across the country.

Gov. Sabina Matos chairs the Emergency Management Advisory Council, which reviews emergency management programs and makes recommendations to the governor.

“If we are not prepared, we will be responsible for the loss of life,” Matos said.

The possibility of a mass shooting in the state, said Providence Mayor Brett Smiley, is “unfortunately a matter of when — not if.”

This article originally appeared in the Providence Journal: Mass shooting victims in Rhode Island could be helped with these special kits