Friday's drill used to train first responders staff and students in event of a disaster
Injured students helped out during drill in Atmore
Last Friday, Coastal Alabama Community College in Atmore held a mass casualty incident training that involved community partners and departments within the college. The simulated incident was a tornado that touched down at night, leaving behind damage and injuries. The event is aimed at streamlining emergency agency response protocols with the campus's nursing student body to show how working together can help those dealing with the aftermath of real-world situations run smoother.
After a 9 a.m. briefing with about 250 people, who would be involved just as they would be in a real event, scattered across the campus to various places to get ready for the event to start at 1 p.m.
One building was set up as ground zero, with students posing as injured victims. Furniture was overturned and windows were blacked out, and in another classroom, part of the ceiling was collapsed. As emergency and medical personnel arrived on scene, victims who could walk and be carried with the help of firefighters were grouped at stations according to their degree of injury and 'treated' on the spot. Two bathrooms and a hallway in the building were full of victims with various levels of injury needing help. Police cleared the buildings of uninjured persons so firefighters and EMTs could begin to assess which victims needed to be treated first.
"We have some nursing students being victims," said Chief Communications Officer Sara Davis. "There are three deceased and seven severely wounded."
The lights are in the building the tornado hit were out due to power loss, and there was construction material strewn about. There was even a wrecked car set up with fencing and cinder blocks covering it to simulate a car crash and several victims around the vehicle. Planners tried to think of every scenario that would be in a real-world situation.
Davis said that first responders encounter victims on the scene who are injured and sometimes yelling for help, but first responders have to secure the scene first to make sure there is no more threat so medical personnel can begin to help victims who are injured.
"There are victims lying around grabbing on first responders sometimes yelling for help, and we don't think about that," said Davis. "But they are trying to make this as real as possible so you will see that."
Davis said the CACC campus in Bay Minette had an active shooter simulation last year and the Monroeville campus had bomb threat simulation. She said when it comes to deciding what simulation will take place, the authorities in that town meet with school officials and discuss it.
"With inclement weather being more prominent here, a lot of the parties said tornado, and specifically in a dark environment," said Davis.
In these scenarios, emotions can be high and some participants who may have been through a situation like one of these, it can be serious.
"We have students who get emotionally overwhelmed so we have mental health services on campus today," said Davis. "All of this is organized through our simulation program," said Davis. "We're the only college in Alabama that has a simulation accreditation. It's pretty neat to see where they've taken the world of simulation."
An AirCare medical helicopter landed about 1:30 p.m. and flew a 'patient' to Atmore Community Hospital to see the flight time as part of the simulation event, Davis said.
Three areas were set up for victims that were color-coded to indicated the degree of injury. Yellow, red and blue plastic tarps with a matching flag indicated where emergency responders would lead those injured to get medical help. The victims had colored ribbons around their wrists to indicate their degree of injury, which indicated to first responders which victims had life-threatening injuries and should be treated first. A classroom was set up as a mock hospital room where nursing students would treat the wounded, complete with hospital beds.
Participating in this event or meetings that took prior to the event were the city of Atmore and Mayor Jim Staff; Atmore Community Hospital; Atmore Fire and Police Departments and 911; Poarch Creek Fire and Police Departments and 911; Poarch Creek Tribal Emergency Services; Escambia County (Ala.) Sheriff's Office and 911; Escambia County EMA; MedStar EMS; AirCare; and Coastal Alabama Community College administration; nursing, EMS, and MAT students and faculty; Police Department; facilities and maintenance; marketing.
"The community members were pleased with how well the event went," said Davis, at a debriefing that followed the event Friday. "They were very thankful."
