Training Saves Lives!

As part of the makeup industry I have the unique opportunity to help with mock disasters. A mock disaster is a made up situation that is created to help train emergency medical responders. The disaster includes situations from bombings, shootings, accidents (plane, car, bike, etc.), terrorist attacks, mother nature attacks (hurricanes, tsunamis, and tornadoes) and other disaster situations.

Now what the makeup people do is help the situation become real. We give the actors wounds that appear real. They become victims through makeup. We help the actors act the part, because they believe they are wounded. Today I had the privilege of helping create a mock disaster. The scenario was a mass shooting. We did this located in the gym of the old Raintree Apartments. People were playing gym, and a person decided to come and start shooting people. We had a variety of people that were wounded. I believe there was a total of 35 wounded. Some of the wounds were very big, and some not so big. Some lived, and some died, which is the case in all real life situations.

We did the disaster twice. The Emergency Medical Team came in and reacted. The first time all the EMT's came in and stood for a good 30 seconds before they actually did what they were supposed to do. The team was new to the mock disaster. They had not quite experienced one, so they did not know how to react quickly. They needed a few seconds to get going. However, in a real life situation some people do not have a few seconds. Those 30 seconds could have been spent saving a life. Instead they were spent trying to figure out what to do.

The second time the team came in and they were better at responding to the situation. We did end up changing a few characters, giving people more wounds, and telling the actors to be more the part of a wounded person (how they would feel, react in a situation like this, and what they would be doing). The second time we did the disaster even though the actors gave them more of a real performance, the EMT's were ready to handle the situation. They knew exactly what to do and who to treat first. They were able to save most everyone. Two people were dead upon arrival, and then only one person died on them.

The mock disaster training was very effective. People learned their jobs and  how to respond. If there was no training, people would never learn how to react, people would never learn how to get better, and people would die. I think training is mandatory in all situations. Training is and can be very effective, especially if it can save lives!