Students at Van Buren Tech in Lawrence now have experience responding to a high-pressure emergency situation following Tuesday’s mock disaster drill.
The center holds the drills each year to help students training in all sorts of fields learn how to help others when it’s most needed, and the twist is that no one knows what the disaster is going to be until it’s staged. Van Buren Tech’s Mikenzie Chambers tells us organizers went all out this year.
“This year’s simulation was actually a plane crash into a crowded flea market,” Chambers said. “It was called Mayhem in the Market. So they had dozens of injuries, a bunch of injured people and cars, and our cosmetology program actually helped create the injuries with special effects makeup, which was really awesome.”
The cosmetology students outdid themselves because photos from Tuesday’s drill look like something out of the movies, featuring victims with all kinds of serious injuries.
Chambers says responding to a plane crash in a crowded market will keep a student pretty busy.
“EMT students kind of stepped out and took control, followed along by our fire science program because we did have a simulated fire from the plane crash that they had to take care of, and then giving them to our patient care team, which actually took them in an ambulance to our tech center.”
Culinary Arts students kept everyone fed for the day. Donations from local businesses make the mock disaster drill possible. Chambers says they gave everything from a wrecked airplane to smashed cars. Real police and fire officials were also on hand, including Van Buren County Sheriff Dan Abbott.
Chambers says in all, about 200 students took part in the exercise while hundreds of spectators watched. She says the day was great experience for the first responders of tomorrow.
