How do Toronto's emergency services and medical facilities cope with multiple disasters unfolding in a single, chaotic day? College students training to become first responders and health care professionals mounted a multidisciplinary response to a large-scale mock disaster at Centennial's Morningside Campus on February 26 to find out.
The simulation was set in the midst of a severe heat wave that overwhelmed medical clinics and area hospitals as vulnerable residents required care for heat-related illnesses. The weather event also spawned a tornado bearing down on densely populated parts of Toronto - including a major-league soccer game and an electronic dance festival.
More than 500 faculty, students and alumni from numerous programs volunteered for a truly inter-professional collaboration. Also attending were working professionals from related fields, including doctors and nurses from local hospitals, as well as community police officers, superintendents and dispatchers from local fire, police and paramedic services.
The campus was transformed into a fictional community (Centennial City) for the exercise, complete with a hospital, fire station and police station, and populated by volunteer "victim" actors playing assigned roles with special makeup to simulate injuries. The extreme weather scenario triggered a series of calls to the 911 and Emergency Services Communications Centre and Police Dispatch.
The heat event brought many vulnerable victims into clinics and hospitals with heat exhaustion and related illnesses, while new layers of emergencies added complexities for the Emergency Operations Centre to manage. As the hospital became overwhelmed with patients, nursing students assisted practicing doctors and nurses in delivering emergency health care under a Code Orange activation.
At every step of the simulation, students were guided and mentored by program instructors and professionals, including Dr. Laurie Mazurik, one of the originators of the simulation. As would happen in real life, the responses were overseen by a Major Incident Command Centre (where the police response is centralized) and a Municipal Emergency Operations Centre, where officials such as the mayor, fire chief, police chief and paramedic chief work together.
"We are a student-centred organization, and the more realistic, hands-on experiences we can provide for them, the better prepared for the real world they will be," said Rita Morehouse, Chair (Associate Dean), Emergency Management and Public Safety Institute at Centennial College. "This allowed the students to see that in a real emergency we don't operate in silos - there is teamwork involved. Everyone worked together to test their mettle and for many students it was an eye-opening experience."
As it would happen during a real-life disaster event, things did not always go exactly as planned in the simulation. The participants learned to adjust, adapt and continue to do what they do best: respond to emergency situation and protect and preserve lives.
"Inter-agency collaboration is the linchpin of emergency response, serving as the cornerstone upon which the safety and well-being of communities during crises are built," Morehouse explained. "Simulating realistic emergency scenarios as we do in the School of Community and Health Studies goes right to Centennial's mission of educating students for career success."
"They told us that the event felt very real to them and was something they would never forget," Morehouse added. Every student participant received a certificate of recognition for their effort, which will bolster their resume for future job opportunities.
It's been 20 years since Centennial College organized its first mock disaster exercise to enhance students' experiential learning. The inaugural event in April 2005 involved Toronto's Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (HUSAR) team, which helped put on a remarkably realistic simulation to help educate emergency planners.
