Shrieking injured victims fake, but real lessons learned at camp
Posted on Monday, July 14, 2008
The screams were so unnerving that staff members at the C. A. Vines Arkansas 4-H Center nearly called 911 — even though they knew a Red Cross group was holding a Rapid Response Camp at the sprawling wooded facility.
Staci Sullivan had been rehearsing her shrieks Thursday afternoon as she readied her role as a victim injured by a tornado that ripped through a busy campground.
Responding to the mock disaster were 78 teenagers, ages 14 to 17, who learned the skills needed to prepare them to brave real disasters and help real victims.
“She’s got multiple contusions and spurting arterial bleeding from her left leg,” said Gayla Bowden, volunteer and youth coordinator for American Red Cross of Greater Arkansas. “She’s a good screamer. We had to stop them from calling 911. They really thought she was injured.” As Bowden observed the half-dozen or so students assessing and treating Sullivan’s fake wounds, the girl continued to wail. This time calling out for her pretend boyfriend, Chris Hardin. The mock tornado had torn the two apart, leaving her beneath a pavilion and him yards away unconscious with head injuries.
Also among the nearly two dozen victims was a drunken man with minor injuries, a boy with a leg torn off, an impaled woman with exposed organs, and burn victims — the result of an exploding campground grill.
Ethan Williams, 15, from Lakeside High School in Lake Village, said the experience was intense, but the week-long boot camp, which ended Thursday, prepared him well.
“I kept telling myself ‘I’m not going to be nervous. I’m not going to be nervous.’ But when we came out and I saw the blood and stuff my heart went ‘whomp, ’” he said, patting his chest. “I started getting butterflies.” Williams said that at the beginning of the exercise he felt overwhelmed.
“But once we started to treat [the victims ], I had a rush of adrenaline. It was like a real situation,” he said. “You never know when you’ll actually be in a situation like this.” The camp is funded by a grant from the Blue and You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas, a Blue Cross and Blue Shield program. During the camp, the students learned first aid and CPR, as well as how to use a compass to find victims scattered throughout the site and how to use the automated external defibrillator.
Bowden was among the observers assessing the students’ performance. Students who already have completed the course also served as observers. Among them was Kristyn Shinn, 20, who said she’s participated in the program for six of its seven years.
“I’m proud of the way the campers handled their manpower. They were very cool and organized,” said Shinn, a sophomore at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville.
Shinn said she’s had to use the skills she’s learned in reallife situations.
“Nothing as severe as this,” she said. “Things like seizures, asthma attacks, and at our college soccer games my roommate passed out on the field a couple of times.” As Shinn talked, Hardin feigned regaining consciousness and began to call out to Sullivan. The students had him in a neck brace and strapped to a backboard. They also were preparing to put Sullivan on a backboard — a stretcher made of hard plastic — to immobilize her and enable them to carry her to the main treatment area with other critically injured victims.
Williams was among the team treating the two. He said he hopes never to be in such a situation, but is glad he’s prepared.
“The better you practice, the better you’ll perform,” he said.
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