by Naseem S. Miller
Orlando Sentinel
October 2, 2015
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Thousands of nurses participate in a mass casualty drill in Orlando
Nurse on mass casualty drills: "Until we figure out what the solution...is, this is just life for us now."
EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO TERRORISM, SELF-STUDY, 1997
August, 1997: The cover of FEMA’s emergency response to terrorism depicts the World Trade Center in cross-hairs.
-- Loose Change, 2nd Edition Recut, written and directed by Dylan Avery
During the Emergency Nurses Association's annual meeting on Friday, a mock shooter blew himself up, killing and injuring 100 local volunteer actors.
There was blood, screams and moans, wounds and dead people – all fake – to create a realistic training environment for more than 40 nurses who had signed up for the exercise.
They quickly began tending to "patients," assessing the extent of their injuries.
The nurses association had worked with several Orlando-based companies for nearly a year to set up the drill on at the Orange County Convention Center, which by coincidence took place a day after the shooting at a community college in Roseburg, Oregon, where 10 people died and seven were wounded.
Jeff Solheim, a nurse and CEO of emergency nursing company Solheim Enterprises, had recently visited Mercy Medical Center, where the Oregon shooting victims were taken on Thursday.
"You hear about these shootings on TV, and it's in Virginia. It's in Aurora. And when it happens to the hospital you were just at, and the staff you worked with ... and you think, that could be us!" he said. "It makes it so freaking personal when it happens to the people you know," he said with tears in his eyes.
"Until we figure out what the solution to the problem is, this is just life for us now," said Solheim.
To set up the drill, Orlando-based medical equipment management systems company Paladin Healthcare joined forces with the local First Response Training Group, which brought along its EMT and paramedic students like Tiahnna Ortiz to volunteer as on-site first responders and patients. The state's emergency response team was also present, helping set-up temporary tents and guide the activities.
Pictures: Emergency Nurses Association mass casualty drill
Students from Joe Blasco Cosmetics make-up artist training center in Orlando practiced their skills of creating life-like wounds, cuts and bruises.
Ortiz ended up with visible bruises on her arm and face, but her character died later during the drill. "She had trouble breathing," Ortiz said.
In an adjacent hall, hundreds of attendees watched live on a large screen as the events unfolded, and Daniel Nadworny, the clinical director of operations at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, walked them through what was being done right or wrong.
It wasn't too long ago that Nadworny found himself caring for the victims of the bombing at the Boston Marathon.
"I thought the training was great," said attendee and observer Devry Aldaz, nurse leader of Emergency Services at Florida Hospital Winter Garden. "We're in the tourist capital of the world. We need to be ready."
Michelle Cockrell, a nurse from Ohio, said she had never been in a disaster-type situation. "So this was very helpful. You learn to move rapidly and pay attention to everything."
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