SCRANTON -- Students in Scranton are being equipped with school supplies you may not expect -- first-aid kits that could come in handy just in case there ever is a school shooting.
At West Scranton High School, buckets are being used to keep students safe. It's because of what's inside the buckets -- the makings of an advanced first-aid kit, an important line of defense if there's ever an active shooter incident there.
"Just with everything going on in the country nowadays, in the world nowadays, we thought better safe than sorry. It's just an idea we came up with, and it kind of went from there," explained West Scranton Vice Principal Charles Suppon.
Suppon came up with the idea with the school's first line of defense -- school resource officer Steve Carroll.
"If they are in the classrooms, and God forbid a student does get hurt, at least we can go and stop something, such as a bleed or something until EMS can get there," Carroll said.
The buckets were donated by the Letica Corporation, a company based in Pittston that manufactures buckets. The supplies inside came from Pennsylvania Ambulance.
There's a total of 120 buckets, enough for every room in the high school.
"They're average everyday things you would find, maybe, in a basic first-aid kit, but coupled with the training we're starting with the staff here, they're going to have more of a dual purpose," said Bruce Beauvais of Pennsylvania Ambulance.
Beauvais says the school's support staff has already been trained on how to use the medical supplies and soon teachers will be, too.
"If it is an active shooter, how long is it going to take for somebody to get to that room? We've learned from past incidents across the country where it could take a long time for an emergency responder to get to that person, so having these buckets are going to be essential to saving lives," Beauvais said.
Officials at West Scranton High School say they're a pilot for the district buckets like these could soon be in every classroom in the city.