Medaille College staged a series of disaster simulations and a fire safety training exercise as part of its ongoing efforts in emergency response planning.
Medaille employees, children and community members portrayed emergency victims with injuries ranging from minor cuts and bruises to neck injuries, and had moulage and makeup applied to give participants a realistic sense of what to expect in an emergency situation.
Ronald Christopher, director of campus public safety, says, “We are very excited to have organized a group of faculty and staff volunteers from all three campuses to act in a first responder capacity following an emergency on campus. These volunteers have received extensive training in disaster preparation, disaster psychology, fire safety, triage, and search and rescue. Plans are in place to train additional employees and students once the academic year begins in September.”
He continues, “The mock scenario will provide our campus with a realistic situation designed to test and showcase their abilities. We plan on hosting additional disaster simulations and table-top exercises in the future in order for Medaille to become increasingly prepared for an actual emergency.”
Representatives of Buffalo State College, Erie County Emergency Services, Grand Island’s Community Emergency Response Team, Niagara County Emergency Services and the Buffalo Police Department were in attendance.
Mary Johnson from Student Affairs and Siavash Ravazi from Information Technology treat Patrick Blosat, 13, in the first of two mock emergency response situations in the North Residence Hall.