Lifesaving project at high school took four years
From staff reports
The Burton Fire District has completed a four-year lifesaving project with the installation of the JACOB Kit program at Battery Creek High School.
After the 2016 death of Jacob Hall in a school shooting in Townville, S.C., a teacher asked a Burton Firefighter/Paramedic about what she could have done if Jacob Hall had been her student, and that question gave birth to the JACOB Kit program a year later.
Over the next four years, the Burton Fire District was able to raise more than $20,000 in local grants and donations to place more than 400 Stop the Bleed kits in every classroom, in every school, that the Burton Fire District responds to. In addition to placing the kits in the schools, all teachers are trained annually on how to use the kits to treat critical injuries until professional responders arrive.
Firefighters state that an adult can bleed to death in 10 minutes, a child in half that time, so teachers having the resources and training to stop any bleeding immediately will save lives.
Burton fire officials state that should an incident occur at a school, while Burton EMTs and paramedics will be the first professional responders to arrive, it’s the teachers who will be the true first responders for their students and coworkers.
The program is named after Jacob, who survived the initial wound but died three days later due to “massive blood loss.” Jacob’s mother gave Burton permission to create the program in her son’s name, and stated that she once told Jacob, who wanted to be a superhero so he could help people, “One day baby, everyone will know your name.”
Burton firefighters say they are trying to honor Jacob’s dream and his mother’s prediction with every kit they install.
In 2019, the Burton Fire District and Beaufort County School District was presented the Firehouse Magazine’s Thomas Carr Community Service award for their partnership in this program. The award is named after Charleston, SC., fire chief Thomas Carr, who help transform the Charleston Fire Department after the devastating 2007 fire that killed nine Charleston firefighters, into a department of community involvement and engagement.
