In the northern part of Texas about 30 miles from Fort Worth, in the town of Coppell, city officials expand emergency kits and put them all around the city for use. In Coppell, they are adding more essential medical tools and equipment to their AED boxes that will be available for emergency use to help in case of events like mass shootings or drug overdoses.
These things that have been added are primarily bleed control kits, which can be put to use in case of a shooting, and Narcan mist, which can be used in case of a drug overdose. They added these to 19 AED boxes which they spread all around the city.
The city encourages the use of these boxes for public use in emergencies.
The division chief of support services with the city’s fire department, Michael McDowell, spoke about the lack of locks on the boxes. They have that on purpose so that any emergency service unit or regular person can open and access the equipment swiftly.
While the purpose of the bleed control kit being in the boxes is primarily in case of events like a mass shooting, they are not limited to use for only those types of events. A bleed control kit can be used on any sort of traumatic injury to prevent further blood loss. If you are with someone who has any sort of traumatic wound, you could use the bleed control kit to help them.
Narcan, which is the brand name for naloxone, is a medication that you can use to reverse the effect of overdoses of certain drug types, particularly opioids. McDowell described the reasoning behind adding these to the boxes as a decision they made to “take an all-hazards approach to all emergencies” in the city. This included Narcan because opioid use is widespread and gaining more traction in Texas. Narcan’s accessibility increasing by being in the boxes helps better the chances of saving those who may overdose on opioids. Opioid overdoses have become disturbingly common, especially with the issue in which many drugs get laced with fentanyl.
Currently, there is an average of five Texans dying from fentanyl poisoning.
With this scary statistic, Coppell decided to look beyond the stigma and focus on just saving lives. The city is also training all city staff members how to properly administer Narcan and use a bleed control kit. They also have instructions in the boxes for anyone else who uses them. People can download PulsePoint, a free app, which will tell them the location of all the AED boxes and point them to the nearest one.
