MABEN, Mississippi – Dr. Craig Moffett of Maben Medical Clinic and the Webster County Sheriff’s Office want local schools to be as prepared as possible in an emergency.

Dr. Moffett serves as the volunteer medic for the sheriff’s office’s special response team, which created and assembled trauma medical kits for each classroom so that teachers will have supplies that could make a difference in an emergency.

“We want to have a trauma medical kit for every classroom in the county,” Dr. Moffett said.

In the case of a disaster at a school, the kits contain tourniquets and compression bandages that could be used to prevent someone from bleeding to death while waiting for first responders to arrive.

 

“It’s not a standard first aid kit,” Dr. Moffett said. “If teachers have the tourniquets and a little training, I’m sure they can save a life.”

Webster County Sheriff David Gore and Dr. Moffett presented the first kits to staff at East Webster High School last week. Dr. Moffett and members of the special response team conducted a training session with school staff.

The team raised about $2,000 in cash and secured about $2,000 worth of donations to create the kits to cover 130 elementary and high school classrooms. Dr. Moffett said he is proud to have been part of the effort. North Mississippi Medical Center-Eupora was among the organizations donating supplies.

Sheriff Gore thanked the teachers and staff at East Webster High and Elementary Schools partnering with his deputies

“We look forward to having more classes and supporting our principals and teachers, all for the safety and security of our children,” Sheriff Gore said. “We at Webster SO are committed to helping make our schools a safe place to work and learn.”

Sheriff Gore created the special response team in December 2020. Since January 2021, the team has met every other week for training. Dr. Moffett leads the medical training sessions for the team.

“I came to a small community because I wanted to make a difference,” Dr. Moffett said. “Building relationships with patients, the sheriff’s department, EMTs and schools has been the most rewarding part of being a small-town physician.”