Recently on four consecutive Saturdays beginning with January 18, January 25, February 1, and finishing on February 8th six volunteers from Gran Paradiso participated in a four-week CERT Basic Training program offered by the North Port Fire and Rescue (NPF&R) Station House #81, located at 4980 City Blvd, North Port.
The classroom training was educational and enlightening and the final simulation exercise on the last Saturday was a fun way to learn serious business. A few of the topics covered during the classroom training included Disaster Preparedness, Basic Fire Safety, Disaster Medial Operations, Light Search and Rescue, and basic CERT Organization.
David Durham from Gran Paradiso assumed a team leadership role for the disaster simulation exercise with Charlie Rice, Vicki Rice, David Koors, Karen Koors, and Robert Spong serving as team members.
During the simulation exercise (a cat 5 hurricane) our team encountered four survivors with simulated injuries and two “walking wounded” with simulated distress scenarios. Our team was accompanied by a safety observer who scored our proficiency at the end of the simulation exercise.
The first survivor we encountered with a simulated injury had a broken wrist. Our team identified themselves and ask if we could help. The second simulation exercise injury was a woman with a severely broken leg revealing a compound fracture. But as we moved in her direction one team member observed a victim in the bushes who appeared to be non-responsive. After checking this victim (which happened to be a stuffed dummy) and finding no pulse and no breathing we move to the victim with a broken leg. Neither of the victims with broken bones were showing signs of shock. The fourth victim was impaled with a piece of pipe and bleeding profusely. Efforts were made to stop the bleeding and stabilize the victim but she died at the scene. The fifth victim was in diabetic shock. Efforts were made to assess this victims condition and transport him to the medical area. One walking wounded victim was dazed and confused clearly in shock. The last walking wounded victim was desperatly trying to locate a missing child.
The GP Cert team performed very well and realized quickly how much additional training will be needed when confronting a real disaster. Though two team members did an excellent job of stopping the bleeding on the impaled victim, several opportunities by other team members to assess shock in other victims were missed. The team did an excellent job with paperwork and the radio communications part of the exercise.
Many thanks to Joe Wyatt and Paul Nienaber from Island Walk for allowing Gran Paradiso residents to be a part of this Cert Basic Training program. Also thanks to Dennis Chapman who conducted most of the training.
