WVSOM Students, Staff Help Stage Mass Casualty Exercise at Summit Bechtel Reserve

​LEWISBURG, WV (WOAY) – Autumn Spears, a third-year student at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM), was one of 26 students and four staff members from the school who volunteered as role players in a mass casualty exercise at the Summit Bechtel Reserve, a national Scouting center near Glen Jean, W.Va.

“I had facial trauma consistent with a basilar skull fracture,” Spears said. “I was triaged in the field by medics, who placed a label around my wrist to mark me as a patient who needed immediate life-saving emergency care. I was taken by military gurney to a red tarp where patients waited for transport to the appropriate facilities. Medics then carried me and placed me in a military ambulance with three other victims.”

The exercise, which simulated the aftermath of a vehicle-borne attack similar to incidents that have occurred in cities such as Nice, France, and Barcelona, Spain, took place July 20, one day before the start of the World Scout Jamboree. It was intended as a training opportunity for the Summit Bechtel emergency and medical staff who would come to the aid of more than 44,000 visiting members of the world Scouting community if a real attack were to occur.

Spears, who was outfitted with moulage to mimic the injuries she was assigned, was one of 90 role players from various organizations who participated in the exercise. She said she found the event educational in the way it depicted team dynamics that are critical for members of the medical profession to master.

“It was a great opportunity to witness multiple agencies working together as a group,” she said. “It was interesting to see how the triage process works, how responders separate the victims and decide who needs to be taken where and by which method of transport.”

See FULL ARTICLE at WOAYTV