June 1, 2007 Mock MCI for the EMT Student.

So these things are supposed to be hush hush prior to execution but in a town of what...8500?...like Slave it's totally not going to happen.

This is day 3 of my first FULL tour on practicum. Day 3...with 1 minor emerg call on the books and otherwise days (and nights) of no activity. Not just a little white cloud is me...a HUGE white cloud...me in town means great health for our region.

So I woke up this morning and one of the random thoughts that went through my brain was "hmmm I wonder what kind of Mock stuff Slave agencies do to test their disaster response systems..." I have no idea why I thought that. And really...my luck with the practicum gods/psychic ability thing has been VERY spooky. I even predicted to the hour what time my ONE call would come in yesterday.

THEN, while doing our unit checks the crew today asks why I went into the second unit when it would only be used for ground transfers or the second crew out...a thorough check had been done the day before and of course...no activity so no stock missing. Did it anyways "just because we should" and in the process a friend who was part of the crew today and I decided to just see what was in the triage kit. Neither of us had ever looked inside before. As it happens, they switched which unit went on an ALS ground transfer because of A/C issues so we ended up using our second up for the day.

Well then... wandering through the hospital halls for something totally different...chatting with the nurses and then heading back to the base...the head nurse for the day shouts to us down the hall: "You guys ready for the call today?" We (all three of us) look at her blankly "Huh?" So she clarifies further: "At 12:15 today...the mock MCI...are you ready?" And the three of us continue to look at her strangely really thinking we're missing something still questioning what she's talking about. So she says again: "They're calling at 12:15 today for a Mock MCI...don't you know about it?"

LOL Clearly we did not. And then she realized that maybe we weren't supposed to know (DUH) and I all of a sudden clued in to something our boss person said earlier in the morning "Have fun today..." rather mysteriously.

Slave was getting hit with a mock MCI today...in just 90 minutes from when we got the heads up!

So what did we do as good EMS folks? Found a couple errands to run around town figuring that at 1100h we would be bound to figure out where they would be setting this up. Maybe a water emergency? Or a situation at the court house? Or the schools.

No such luck finding it. So heading back to our base the Big Boss-man is hanging around a lot for some reason...fairly red in the face and soon he realizes that we know what's going on. Then the other part of the crew today checks with her boyfriend who happens to be RCMP and let it slip the other day that he has this mock thing going on (but she didn't put two and two together at the time) to see if he had any info.

We got the details, about 10 min before the call came in. In reality though there isn't anything we needed to do or could have done in preparation just for an MCI. Aside from a few pairs of gloves stuffed in our pockets...the unit is stocked appropriately and you just find a way to make do.

All our medics were timed out, on medivac, or ground transfer. For the duration of the MCI we were really left functioning as a BLS service until one of our medics out in Canyon Creek was able to get back to town. We had our crew...the two plus me, and our on call dude to work with till the medic arrived...and then the two crews was it. GOOD TIMES!

The MCI was a school fire/chemical spill. The three of us essentially triaged treated, and organized transport for 17 casualties: 3 Red, 13 Yellow, 1 Green. I believe there was one black (a science lab's skeleton) but it never got to us LOL. They budgeted 2 hours for the total time required to respond and end the call (all agencies)...we were done in 1h 10min. Debrief afterwards was good. The focus of this mock was to test the school's resources but of course it's great practice for all agencies. I had a BLAST and actually becuase my schooling on the matter is so much more recent I had a lot to say (and contribute).

With the short handed-ness being our biggest issue we had the on call guy in the back of one unit (with fire driving) and the medic in the back of the other unit (with fire driving). All our patients although with worsening signs & symptoms, were as 'stable' as they were going to get. We packed in whatever we could reasonably into the units (mostly dictated by available oxygen lines).

The students (some drama students, some regular) were awesome. The ones in our EMT class Mock MCI were good...these ones were amazing. I really didn't know sometimes how much was acting. We had girls crying, some with panic attacks, SERIOUSLY real sounding coughing, great unconscious victims really giving us the dead weight. And as it happens we even got one REAL injury...a boy who had banged his ankle riding to school on his bike, then when fire went to carry him out they kind of dropped him and he rolled his ankle. So that part of my treatment on the PCR was totally real!

It was totally GOOD times I tell ya! How many students get to play like that on practicum? But boy do you sweat like a pig during...and crash fast afterwards. Time for me to head 'home' for a nap (and a shower) and maybe time to change into a clean uniform. And I even get to contribute a couple items (suggestions) to the morning meeting tomorrow based on today. But damn... do I wish I could have a cold beer right now. Being on 24h TOTALLY sucks.

I got pic sent from the fire department (in my gallery on here)...mostly of them but a few of us (aren't they kind). Fire out here isn't required to be EMRs either so that was a different twist.

Hmmmm wonder if my white cloud will carry me through the Friday night? I like these fake patients.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow Heidi!! That sounds like a fantastic experience!!! I'm glad you had a great time and its sounds like you are finding your spot in this crazy game we call EMS!!

Anonymous said...

What a neat oportunity while doing placement!!!

Anonymous said...

2 mock MCI's in 6 months. thats pretty good!! So was you partner that did not know the triage kit, Kelsey? That is hilarious.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like it was a lot of fun, and worthwhile as well - I hate it when people let the cat out of the bag, though.

I think you should investigate this white cloud of yours - if you can bottle it and possible sell it, you may never have to work again!

Take care and have fun!