Jacob Thompson doesn’t want to pick a side in the national gun debate. He wants to make a difference right here, right now.

A Marine Corps veteran, Thompson grew up in Post Falls. Two years ago Thompson founded Initial Response, Bleeding Control and Training Solutions, with co-owner and veteran Gerdono Wade. Initial Response builds trauma kits and trains customers to use the kits to prevent blood loss and loss of life in tragic situations.

“Bad things happen to good people,” Thompson said. “But it’s great people who respond to those bad things.”

Both Thompson’s and Wade’s wives are school teachers and they both have young children in the public school system. When the Parkland shooting happened in Florida in 2018, Thompson and Wade were overseas. They realized they had to do something to help people in their country.

As mass shootings escalated across the country, Thompson and Wade decided to use their expertise in armed forces medical training to help people prepare for gun violence. Thompson understands people don’t want to think about the worst possible scenario; they don’t want to think about violence in their workplace or their child’s school.

“I want [people] to know that the common person can make a difference,” Thompson said. “Anyone can learn this. Wherever you work you can be the first responder on hand.”

Initial Response kits include the tools necessary to stop major bleeding while waiting for emergency personal, including QuikClot hemostatic gauze, four yards of regular gauze, compression bandages, a tourniquet, medical scissors, gloves, emergency blankets to prevent shock, chest seals to prevent the chest cavity from filling up with air in the incident of trauma, and an instruction card.

All the products in the kit are sourced from North American Rescue and have been approved by the Department of Defense and Stop the Bleed, a national campaign to encourage bystanders to become trained, equipped, and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives.

All public schools in Texas will be mandated to carry Initial Response kits, or similar traumatic injury kits, in January, according to HB 496. All public schools in Florida must have the kits by January 2021. California and Georgia are in the process of implementing similar laws, according to Thompson.

“Within a city it takes 5 to 7 minutes for first responders to respond,” he said. “In rural districts it’s even longer. You can bleed out in three minutes.”

Thompson and Wade envision Initial Response kits being in place like AED or fire extinguishers in public buildings. They want people to keep the kit in their car or take it with them in the mountains. Many of the kit’s contents are similar to ones found in trauma kits for loggers, backcountry workers, or hunters.

“When disaster happens, will the people immediately available be able to respond?” Wade said. “Our mission is to ensure we can always answer yes to that question.”

Thompson works as a security contractor for the Department of State throughout Afghanistan. His wife and children live in Texas, while his parents and siblings still reside in northern Idaho.

His sister, Rebecca Thompson, has an Initial Response Kit at the federal courthouse, where she works in Coeur d’Alene. His brother-in-law has one at Kootenai Title where he works.

Thompson says he is in conversation with North Idaho College and that they are showing interest in the kits for campus safety.

“We’re not trying to make a lot of money,” Thompson said. “We’re both veterans. We want to make a difference.”

It is precisely Thompson’s and Wade’s service in the armed forces and now as government contract employees that gave them the skills necessary to design the Initial Response Kits. They were trained to be prepared for the worst possible scenario with specific medical training. They pored over the preliminary kits, whittling the contents down to the essential life-saving components.

Wade and Thompson would talk on the phone multiple times a day.

“I’d get off the phone and my wife would say ‘Let me guess, it was Wade?’” Thompson said with a chuckle. “Wade lives in Alabama. He has a good heart.”

“Opinions on politics, laws, and tactics will vary, and we respect that, but waiting for everyone to agree on a solution is not an effective strategy,” Wade said. “If we are equipped with the appropriate knowledge and resources, we can do anything. We can save lives. We can be the difference.”

More information about the kits can be found online: initialresponse.org