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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1985-10-02, Page 7441 Times -Advocate, October 2, 1985 The heads of the various units at the disaster scene congregate as the lost of the patients depart. Pictured are Fire Chief Gary Middleton, nurse Vicky McCreight, police Chief Larry Hardy, Dr. Linda Steele, Jim Hoffman, Constable Jim Barnes and works superintendent Glenn Kells. t - Fireman George Pratt arrived on the scene with a Charterways school bus to transport the less seriously injured patients to the hospital. Jim Hoffman assists as they Toad up Kim Prance while Joanne Slaght looks out a window. D I A '1 c� An unidentified patient is being checked by nurse Norma Lindenfield and Dr. W. Read and Dr. P. Englert. 1 1 Ambulance attendant Rob Watson notes pertinent data on the tag which will accompan Diane Warwick to the hospital. t - Nurse Marian Pfaff attends to Melissa Moore in the emergency word at the hospital. Judy Thurman, Dr. Linda Steele and Vicky McCraight examine a vic- tim and fill out the ticket attached to each that assisted hospital staff to determine the nature of the injuries sustained. Dr. W. O'Connor checks out the left arm of victim Sharon Thiel at South Huron Hospital: Charlotte Miller is moved to a room for treatment by Marlene Fields and high school Co -Op student Bernadette Masse as nursing director Audrey Pooley checks her record. An ambulance attendant and Dr. D. Ecker ore whisking Heather Hern to emergency in hospital. Stogcd �sas er �s rea �s ��or situsility serious cuts and contusions are simulated with make-up. Jones said he really enjoys his job, spending his working hours produc- ing, directing and staging dramas which everyone hopes will never materialize. However, a municipali- ty which has taken part -in a dress rehearsal should be well prepared if acting ever turns to actuality. "I've done this all over. and Exeter is as good as any", was consultant George Jones initial assessment as the curtain came down on the mock disaster staged on September 25 to test South Huron Hospital's emergen- cy contingency plan. Though the performances of hospital staff. police and fire depart- ments and ambulance services will not be formally evaluated for a few weeks. Jones commended those in- volved for being dedicated. well organized and displaying "great com- munity services support". Jones is well qualified to pass judgement on how skilfully a municipality copes while a staged ex- ercise tests all the services that would be called into play in case some catastrophe struck. During his seven years with Canada's Emergency Measures Organization he produced the first emergency contingency plan for Metro Toronto. He spent 17 years staging mock disasters across the province as an employee of the On- tario Hospital Association before set- ting up his own freelance consulting business two years ago. Exeter is one of fewer than 300 of Ontario's 858 municipalities that has an emergency contingency plan. ac- cording to Jones. He speaks from ex- perience when he says "if anything does occur, everything goes like clockwork". Jones wondered for awhileif some malevolent force was reading his scripts. Ten years ago he planned a scenario based on the assumption a train crash occurred near the St. Joseph's Health Centre in Toronto. He returned from a Florida vacation to hear that by an uncanny coincidence a train wreck had taken place at the site of the mock disaster. A few years later, an exercise was Casualty Kim Prance is being helped by nurses Joanne Warehem and Jean Palfroman. based on a plane crashing at Toronto ghastly moulages or simulated in - International Airport, involving 220 juries as their rescuers arrived on the "casualities", 50 ambulances and 28 scene. hospitals. A year later a DC9 did The moulages. obtained from the crash at the airport, killing two and US Army, were strapped on to injuring more than 90. (This time various parts of the actors' bodies to Jones was in England). In both cases. imitate the deep gashes, fractures, authorities gave credit to the previous eviscerations, and Toss of limbs that practice for the smooth running of the would be among the injuries sustain - actual rescue operations. ed by actual disaster victims. Less Art can also realistically imitate life. In most of the disasters staged by Jones, high school students have played the part of the "casualties". The boys are more subdued, but the girls enter right into the spirit of the event, Jones has concluded. (From what this reporter observed at the rec centre, there is a wealth of acting talent right here in our local high school just waiting to be discovered. The cries and screams and hysterical scenes were very convincing.) "I've seen some lying half naked in the snow for 30 minutes during an ex- ercise without complaining", Jones said, adding he has met a few thou- sand young people in the course of his job, and has the highest regard for Canadian teenagers. Jones seldom askes his young ac- tors to "play dead", as they are disap- pointed not to be part of the action. Some are assigned to pretend un- consciousness. Jones recalls one young man who had the nurses puzzl- ed. It turned out he had actually fainted at the sight of all the fake blood. The non -staining, non -irritating. non-toxic stuff is obtained from a firm called Simulaids in California. When added to water, a $2.50 packet of powder will produce half a gallon of liquid that could fool Dracula. Many of the "casualties" were equipped with plastic bottles of the red fluid and I told to pull a metal tab on the tubing to send the liquid gushing from the Disaster cons ultont Gordon Jones gives "victim" Sandra Hullebusch's riake-up a final touch before the start of the mock disaster.