Montgomery Football Captain Donates Bleeding Control Kits

Barbara A. Preston, Editor | DECEMBER 28, 2020

Montgomery High School Senior Weber Karsay, 17, is having a good year. As a running back on the varsity team, he realized a dream play — running a 71-yard TD run against North Hunterdon High School in October.

In December, he announced: “After a great phone call with Coach (Mark) West, I am blessed and honored to announce that I am going to be a Black Knight at West Point and play Army Sprint Football.”

Montgomery High School Football Team Captain Weber Karsay with Thomas Wain, retired Montgomery police director who is now director of security for Montgomery schools

The Montgomery News interviewed Karsay in December for donating “Stop the Bleed” kits to his school district. The White House launched the Stop the Bleed campaign in October 2015. It encourages bystanders to become trained, equipped, and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency, such as a car accident or mass shooting, before professional help arrives.

Karsay says he raised money and donated the kits because he wanted to “give back to his community.” His career goal is to “serve my country as an Army officer,” he says. He also volunteers for the Montgomery Township Fire Company, Station 45 in Belle Mead, which he joined when he was 16.

Weber created a Stop the Bleed Team, which provides training on how to stop bleeding in the case of a mass shooting incident or other public emergency.

The personal “Stop the Bleed” kits use the same tourniquet and hemostatic dressing technologies recommended by the U.S. military to control bleeding. Contents are packaged in a clear plastic, resealable pouch. The kits cost about $70 a piece and each kit includes: An instructional booklet on bleeding control; a C-A-T tourniquet; QuikClot Bleeding Control Dressing; a mini Sharpie marker; one pair of protective gloves; and a compression bandage.

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The kits are designed to help stop traumatic, life-threatening bleeding. There is also training available on how to use the kits. Karsay was working with Barbara Vaning and Bill Greenhalgh of the Montgomery EMS to provide the training to teachers and students.

The pandemic cut it short though. Karsay says the kits are important to have at schools, which have been in the news too often because of mass shootings. The kits will save lives, he says, should there ever be an unfortunate situation.