Preparing for disaster: Accident scenario helps Outdoor Leadership Program students train for the real thing

December 13, 2007

A hiking trip to Farley Cliff went horribly wrong for four students last Thursday afternoon. A sudden and violent winter storm swept in, leaving them trapped and injured. Their fellow Outdoor Leadership Program students arrived at the scene at 3 p.m. to help and half an hour later, one student was pronounced dead, two were still trapped and another was unconscious and bleeding from a compound fracture. Fortunately, this scenario was only a test.

The students were safe and were only playing the roles of injured and trapped victims, but the tools their classmates used to rescue them were very real. “We’re getting first-hand experience here,” said Adam Bazanchuk, who played the part of incident commander. “We’re learning much more than what we could from watching a video or reading a book.” Greenfield Community College’s Outdoor Leadership program trains about 20 students a year to enter the adventure industry.

Those students have to be ready to deal with life-threatening situations that are a risk with this kind of job. They are trained in first aid, but also in techniques for stabilizing and then moving people from hard to reach places. Austin Paulson is the coordinator for the program. He said this event was the second in what he hopes to be a yearly exercise. “The number one objective of this exercise is for students to practice their medical skills,” Paulson said. “They have all been certified as wilderness first responders.”

The students didn’t know exactly what they would be facing last Thursday, but did training throughout the week to prepare. On Tuesday and Wednesday, they learned to set up rope systems they could use in different situations to get to people and to move them, without exacerbating any injuries they may have, especially spinal injuries. When they got the call the simulation was starting, they had to make a plan of action and figure out what they were going to bring with them. The students played the parts of victims, rescuers and leaders based on what they randomly chose out of a hat.

The victims had to learn about their injuries and how their vital signs would be responding to the situation. One was trapped in a confined space, another was in a hard to reach ledge, while the third had a leg trapped under a boulder. All three had to be carefully moved to a trailhead where they could be taken to safety. The girl trapped by the boulder really had her leg pinned underneath. The students had to set up a rope system to pull it off. When the task was done, they cut her pant leg to assess the wounds and found (thanks to some nifty special effects) that she was bleeding and suffering from a compound fracture. One student hovered over her head, talking to her and keeping her conscious. Another attempted to move her leg. “Ah, my leg hurts!,” she screamed before passing out.

All the while, student were checking on each other’s “real time” condition to make sure no one was getting too cold, especially the girl playing the part of the victim. There were real hazards at the scene – it was freezing, getting dark fast and the steep rocks were covered in ice and snow. But Paulson said the challenge was meant to teach the students what they are capable of. “Part of what is going on behind the scenes is we want them to know how well they are doing,” Paulson said. “We are all capable of much more than we think we are.”

But this exercise trained more than just the students. It was really a training exercise for the college as a whole. Paulson said the Outdoor Leadership Program often takes students out to remote areas for training and those trainings could lead to a real catastrophic scenario. Being prepared for potential problems is the best way to ensure an accident doesn’t become a tragedy. The Outdoor Leadership program leaves detailed information about where the students will be when they go out of town, but that kind of information was not always available for daytrips.

Last year a new plan was instated so that the program leaves a daily log as to where the students will be and how to get there. Paulson helped develop a plan so that if there ever is an accident, the proper school authorities can be notified through a specific chain of command. That new plan was put to the test with this exercise. Terry Boyce, Dean of Students, arrived at the scene and showed off her acting skills making sure the incident commander told detailed information of the incident.

College authorities are pleased the emergency plan is tested on an annual basis for the students to be prepared if they ever do encounter a real emergency situation. “I was pleased in the way the College responded in this learning exercise,” said GCC President Bob Pura. “As we know the potential for this tragedy is all too real. GCC continues to learn lessons from our own history and the people affected by that history. Adam Dzialo and his family have taught us a great deal about how a college can and should respond to such tragic accidents. The Dzialos continue to teach us not only about the needs of those students involved but their families as well.”