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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1985-10-02, Page 6Times -Advocate, October 2, 1985 Mary Lynn Rees, an RNA at South Huron Hospital usually treats pa- tients. On Wednesday she did double duty by painting injuries on students such as Karen Miller for the mock disoster. • Not all the students involved in the disaster were in the rec centre. Charlotte Miller was located under a car in the parking lot, but was quickly found by local firemen and raced to medical attention. Suzanne Wareham, with severe arm injuries, is carried the rec centre by Fire Chief Gary Midd)eton. Disaster plan tested to two real fires in the hours preceding the disaster, were noticeably tired as they hauled out the final victims from the rec centre. Jim Hoffman, who was ambulance co-ordinator at the scene, termed the event a valuable learning exercise, being quick to note that several things would be done differently next time due to things learned on Wednesday. While some of the student patients were concerned about the slow pace of the care received, Hoffman had the opposite opinion, noting the event "was over before it really started". Treatment of patients was done on paper or verbally, while the real thing takes many minutes more. Two. ambulances 'from the Dashwood firm were on hand, along with ambulances dispatched from Lucan Seaforth and Zurich. It will be another week before an of- ficial review is undertaken of Wednes- day's "mock disaster" in Exeter but most participants in the event came away with the conclusion that only a few minor problems existed. Despite the terminology used to describe the event, it was carried out in realistic fashion and would have caused a passerby to take a second look before realizing he had not stumbled onto the real thing. It was designed to test the effec- tiveness of selected aspects of South Huron Hospital's disaster plan manual and involved all Local medical staff, police, firemen and ambulance personnel. The disaster was set into motion when a "passerby" reported to the hospital that she had seen smoke while driving through town and wondered if there was any problem. That vague message set the wheels in motion and was followed up with another message that smoke was seen coming from the "rec centre at the north end" and there were bodies "all over the place". With that message, a town police cruiser was dispatched to the rec cen- tre and another to the "north end" that was also indicated in the call. Police Chief Larry Hardy arrived at the rec centre two minutes after receiving the call from his dispatcher, which was just under 10 minutes from the time of the initial vague call about smoke being seen in Exeter. Ambulances and fire department vehicles quickly converged on the scene and the evacuation of 32 high school students from the rec centre auditorium was underway. The students, showing a real acting gift, played their parts to the fullest. After being suitably covered with a variety of makeup and moulages to simulate everything from amputa- tions to shock, the SHDHS crew had turned the rec centre upside down and then buried themselves under the pile of tables and chairs. George Jones, organizer of the scene, also threw a bit of a curve at firemen as he turned off the lights and forced them to come up with some auxiliary lighting to find the assorted screaming and moaning victims in the hall. Some of the terror-stricken students raced out the door and had to be restrained by firemen as they acted out the part of shock victims. After running out of stretchers, the firemen responded to the challenge by using tables, their coats and their broad backs to lug the injured to the nearby triage area where ambulance and hospital staff were busy sorting out the wounded into various categories to ensure the most serious- ly injured were given priority transportation to the hospital. Within 30 minutes of the initial call, all the students were out of the building and in less than one hour all were on their way to the hospital --the last group being transported in a school bus brought to the scene for those not requiring ambulances. At the hospital, incoming am- bulances were met by a medical team ►°�"" which checked the injury tickets on bodily from each patient and then directed them to specific areas for treatment of in- juries as dictated by the tickets and A portable light helps firemen Ken Triebner, Peter Hrudka and Peter Snell aid one of the disaster vic- tims in the rec centre. 1 .- the observations undertaken. Bathroom tissue was used to simulate real bandages for some of the victims, while others were designated for transfer to London hospitals. Despite the realism of the scene, there were a few lighter moments. When one student at the hospital heard nursing director Audrey Pooley advise "this one will have to go to London" she replied, "Do I really have to go to London?" There was also one real injury in- volved in the exercise. Dr. Linda Steele, who was at the rec centre to supervise the triage area medical team, suffered a bee sting on her finger. The bees, attracted by lef- tovers from the fair, forced several participants to alter their paths or take evasive action. Dr. Steele also provided a bit of levity at the scene when she noted she could tell when people were dead, but it wasn't as easy when they were on- ly "paper dead". Actually none of the students was listed as dead at the scene, primari- ly because experience shows none wants to be taken out of action. A probletn was experienced with the communication system. Police Chief Larry Hardy explained that caused a five-minute delay in pro- ceedings and noted that technicians will be in the area this week attemp- ting to discover what went wrong with the radio setup. He was high in his praise for all those involved. "All-in-all the emergency services did a good job," he said, adding special praise for the work of the students who performed so admirably as victims. Hospital administrator Trevor Nesbitt was also extremely pleased with the exercise, noting no major problems were identified with the medical team response at the hospital. Student patients arrived without much identification andhe says that will be an area that will be looked at in the review. Many patients, of course, were unconscious and all had been told to wear old clothes and not carry any valuables so there were no wallets in pockets to help with identification. About 90 to 100 attended a barbecue staged at the hospital after the mock disaster was completed. "It was long overdue," commented Fire Chief Gary Middleton in reference to putting the disaster plan to the test. "Everyone will learn by the mistakes," he suggested, adding that no major ones appeared evident. Firemen, who had to answer calls • One of the first victims encountered by the Exeter firemen was Karen Wells who had to be caught as she tried to race back into the rec centre. Firemen Norm Tait and Bob Forrest restrain her and whisk her off to medical staff who had their hands full with the shock vic- tim who kept trying to break away from them. Julie Blommaert and Melissa Moore arrange themselves under the overturned chairs and tables as the disaster is about to proceed. . , _ , . One of the problems experienced with the disaster response team was a technical breakdown of the communications system. Polite Chief Lorry Hardy, centre, examines the radio to no avail and then swit- ched to another channel. With him are Jim Hoffman and Rob Watson of Hoffman's Ambulance. t PUC employee Vern Postill, left, watches Exeter firemen Peter Czypyha, Larry Hamilton, Ken Triebner and Norm Tait carry one of the victims. to the triage area. (-, Vie,•_, i dr�'I 44;a1. srd Councillor Morley Holl was among the "otservers" of Wednesday's mock disaster. He watched as John Brenda Hoonard is being attended to in the hospital emergency ward by nurse Marg Inson and Dr. W. Morgan and Bob Forrest use o fireman's coat to haul Jeff Wareham out of the rec centre. Steciuk.