After their happy return to 24/7 service for the spring semester, St. Lawrence University EMS is holding its Mass Causality Incident Drill on April 28.
Last semester, SLU EMS had to cut back their 24/7 availability to just working the weekends due to low staff. “It was a really, really hard decision for us to do,” said Miso Wilson ’24, Training Officer for SLU EMS. Although there are still some issues SLU EMS faces regarding support and staffing issues, they have returned to their regular hours and are continuing training for the crew.
For the training this week, volunteer actors have helped create stimulated EMS calls, such as allergic reactions, mental health emergencies, trauma and medical situations. But their biggest event is the MCI drill this upcoming Sunday. An MCI drill is a staged mass causality with actors who pretend they have varying wounds. The entire SLU EMS team will be called to a random place at any time during the day to practice their skills on these actors. Some actors will even require makeup to show visible signs of wounds to the crew. “The more realistic and stressful we can make it, the better the training will be for them,” said Wilson.
“These kinds of drills prepare us to respond to things where the number of casualties or people needing our help overwhelms the resources that we have,” said Wilson, adding that all 26 members of SLU EMS will be participating and responding to this event. While training for an MCI is very important, it can be much more beneficial than just knowing how one works.
“Not only does doing a mass casualty help us to learn the MCI protocols, but also, it allows us to practice a lot because we’re going to be transporting patients, which is something you do every day, and we’re going to be practicing assessment skills,” said Ellie Strade ’27, a new member of SLU EMS. While Strade is new to the SLU EMS crew, she is not a stranger to these types of drills. Strade discussed the bi-monthly drills she would do as an EMT in Alleghany, New York. “Your skills are going to be sharper in a real-life situation,” said Strade, emphasizing the importance of these types of drills on testing their quick-thinking skills. “Obviously, you hope a mass casualty incident doesn’t happen very often, but it is a really good thing to practice,” said Ellie Strade.
While participation has been low for SLU EMS this year, impacting their availability, they are still able to put on this drill. “I was actually able to reach out to several professors who are able to offer extra credit for students who participate. So that’s kind of helping us a lot and getting people involved,” said Wilson. “I’m really excited. I think it’s going to be super fun,” exclaimed Wilson.