Posted on 05/02/2015 12:42:40 PM PDT by flamberge
This session was a practical test in which the CERT Volunteers were called to the location of a simulated disaster.
In contrast to previous sessions, the practical test was held outdoors in the downtown parking lot of a metropolitan convention facility. Groups from a number of different cities participated in the event as well as teams sponsored by the national FEMA organization. The event was organized by professional staff of the participating cities. The organizers had decades-long experience with Fire and Rescue operations.
There were approximately 50 CERT volunteers plus 50 role-player “disaster victim” volunteers attending the exercise. All team members had previous training and some had experience with previous simulation exercises.
The scenario was a massive car pileup on a nearby interstate highway with unconfirmed reports of a hazardous material spill.
Teams responded according to procedures described in the FEMA Incident Command System, and quickly setup a triage area and control center. A recon team went through the site and reported back (by radio) with an assessment of injuries and required medical facilities. The rescue teams went in and started first aid procedures and began to transport patients to the triage area for further treatment.
The scenario included a hysterical bystander who disrupted the deployment of rescue teams and confused victims who did not want to leave their vehicles. One zone in the disaster area was revealed to be covered with spilled gasoline and teams were instructed to leave that zone. None of the teams would abandon their patients in the hazard zone. Exercise proctors ruled that the team members and patients survived the hazard – just by luck.
Disaster Triage (even in simulation) is a hard business. The more severely injured victims must be given complex first aid, and then transported to the medical area. This is actually the first priority for the rescue teams. The walking wounded can be given simple first aid and then escorted to the medical area for further assessment and treatment – if there is a team available to help them. The dead must be left unattended at the site where they fell.
There is very little time for team members to make an assessment. There are no take-backs.
In this exercise, the teams were absolutely swamped with patients. The role-player patients stayed flawlessly in character, creating an extremely intense simulation. Our team found two young boys in a hazard zone with “severe injuries” but we had only enough people to carry one of them back to the triage area. There was never any time to find out what happened to the other boy.
Even so, our team escorted two walking patients back to the medical area, and carried five other “severely injured” patients back in blankets during the exercise. Overall, the various teams were able to successfully evacuate most of the patients with “non-fatal injuries” within the time allotted for the exercise.
Emergency evacuation of non-walking patients requires 4-6 people to do safely if a stretcher is unavailable. It is best to do basic first aid at the site and wait for a full crew before moving a seriously injured patient. Even better is to wait for paramedics to handle such actions.
Note that in a real disaster, the CERT volunteers would not be called as first responders. That call would go to fire-and-rescue units, police, and local ambulance services. But as the instructors pointed out – the real “first responders” are ordinary citizens who just happen to be nearby when the incident starts. If even one person knows what to do, it makes a big difference in the outcome.
The exercise was terminated close to the scheduled end time when a CERT volunteer suffered a “real world” injury after falling from the tailgate of a pickup truck. That person was treated on-scene by a professional nurse and a paramedic, then taken to a clinic for follow-up.
An old and garbled quotation came to my mind: “The harder you train in Peace, the less you will bleed in War”.
Interesting.
Been there.
Done that.
Did not get a t-shirt.
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