If the worst happens — a mass shooting, say, or another emergency — Cal State Long Beach wants those on campus to be prepared.

That’s why survival kits have been installed at nearly 40 locations throughout its campus, officials announced Monday, May 6. The “Stop the Bleed” kits, as they are called, will include tourniquets, gloves, gauze and bandages. Each kit will go where automatic external defibrillators are already in place.

The kits, provided by Dignity Health-St. Mary Medical Center, aim to help victims of an emergency before first responders can arrive.

“(The kits) are actually designed for mass casualty events, such as an active shooter where you have wounded individuals who cannot wait for medical attention,” University Police Capt. Rick Goodwin said in an interview. “For example, if you have someone bleeding out, you need to render aid to them. They can’t wait.”

St. Mary’s has received funding for the kits — as well as kits for City College — and has partnered with the university to place them there. Officials began installing the kits last month.

St. Mary’s has also partnered with Long Beach to eventually place kits throughout the city as well.

The hospital has been working to implement the program for three years, part of an overall effort to provide emergency preparedness training throughout the community.

On Thursday morning, May 9, St. Mary’s trauma nurses will demonstrate how to use the kits at the Student Recreation & Wellness Center, a hospital spokeswoman said. University President Jane Close Conoley, and officials from the Long Beach Fire Department, will also be on hand.

That presentation will come about a week after a shooting killed two and injured four at the University of North Carolina.

Of the 250 active shooter incidents in the U.S. from 2000 to 2017, 15 have occurred at higher education campuses, according to the FBI. And since the turn of the millennium, the overall frequency and number of casualties each year have also trended upward, according to FBI statistics.

The hospital’s survival kits are just the latest effort to prepare for such emergencies at Cal State Long Beach. In the past three years, for example, university police have trained more than 300 faculty and employees in active shooter classes.

Goodwin encourages anyone — whether through Cal State Long Beach or elsewhere — to participate in an active shooter training. With the increasing number of active shooter incidents, he said, the best way to prepare is to train.

“It’s sad we have to think that way,” Goodwin said, “but we do.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that the survival kits have already been installed at Cal State Long Beach.