Students participate in Crestwood disaster drill

Sixteen medical academy students including seniors Emily Ward and Scarlett Wellman participated in the Crestwood Medical Center disaster drill as victims on May 11. The students arrived at 7:30 a.m. so the paramedics would have enough time to give students the faux injuries. Ward had an artificial laceration on her neck, a broken clavicle and a broken femur as well as a dislocated knee while Wellman had a slit throat.

After the makeup was finished, the disaster began. Crestwood recreated the April 27, 2011 tornado that hit a few years back. The victims were spread around so the hospital personnel could find and treat their wounds.

“The ‘injured’ students were directed through the ER to the nurses who then cared for us. Hospital employees were unaware of this drill until shortly before it happened,” Ward said. This was the first time in 10 years that Crestwood used actual people for the drill instead of fake cardboard cut outs.

“[The drill] was to test the staff and see how they responded when they were overwhelmed with disaster victims. It helps them work on weaknesses or show their strengths,” Wellman said. “They had no idea it was going to happen until about 5-10 minutes before it started.”

Every student went through a similar, yet different process depending on their wound.

“After I was ‘admitted,’ nurses and doctors came to ask me questions after my injuries were taken care of. Then social workers were asking me about the accident and checking my mental status,” Ward said. “After the questions, I was rolled up to the intensive care unit for observation and would have ‘surgery’ in the morning. Then I was reunited with my ‘mom.’”

After the drill was complete, the victims were treated to pizza. The students enjoyed the drill and agreed that it was a good learning experience.

“It was awesome and I would definitely do it again. We do something similar in medical academy, but it was super cool to see the professionals do it,” Wellman said. “I actually did learn how [they] would treat some of the wounds, which is helpful because Selena Gerardo and I are participating in a competition in June and we have to treat wounds like that.”