Trauma kit mission accomplished

The Kiwanis Club has been helping local communities since its founding 99 years ago in Detroit. In Valley Stream, its roots don’t go back quite as far, but the club has still provided decades of service.

Most recently, it has outfitted local elementary schools with pediatric trauma kits, a project made possible because of a partnership with local seniors. For years, Kiwanis and the Crochet Club at the Monica Village senior housing complex have been working together to provide schools with bags full of life-saving items.

One or two at a time, Kiwanis worked its way through Districts 13 and 24, before finishing the project earlier this month by providing trauma kits to all three District 30 elementary schools. Eleven schools in Valley Stream — 10 public schools plus Holy Name of Mary — now have the kits.

Clear Stream Avenue School Principal John Singleton and nurse Jeanine Wiese were on hand to accept the donation at Monica Village’s Fisher Hall on May 7. One kit, which was being repurposed from the now-closed Blessed Sacrament School, was given to Singleton while the other two will be delivered shortly to the Forest Road and Shaw Avenue schools.

“We are grateful for the work of the Crochet Club of Monica Village for their donation to all three schools,” Singleton said. “This is awesome.”

The Crochet Club has been raising money from the sales of its various handmade items. Each time it raises $1,000, it makes a donation to the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Center at North Shore Hospital. The hospital then provides a kit to the Valley Stream Kiwanis Club, and gives it to a local school.

The kit has medical items that are specifically sized for children, such as tubes, oxygen masks, stethoscopes and a backboard. This way, emergency treatment can begin right away if a child suffers an emergency.

“Thank God in 12 years I haven’t had an emergency where I’ve really needed to use this,” Wiese said. “God forbid there’s an emergency, we could use what’s in there instead of waiting for an ambulance to come.”

Wiese said that the school only had a basic first aid and disaster supply kit, so this enhances her tool chest if there is a medical issue.