Centennial College’s annual mock disaster exercise saw Faculty of Integrated Health and Community Care students simulate a large-scale, multidisciplinary response to a wildfire scenario at Morningside Campus Wednesday. The scenario is especially timely coming on the heels of some of Canada’s worst-ever wildfire seasons.
The college’s Morningside Campus was converted into a mock city for the exercise: Actors populated the mock city as community members, simulating injuries and issues. Students took on the roles of frontline first responders, health care and social workers, and city officials, including staffing a mock 911-call centre, hospital, emergency operations centre and major incident command centre. Real-life professionals from a range of fields mentored students every step of the way.
“Each year, Centennial’s mock disaster exercise gives hundreds of our students from a range of programs a rare opportunity to gain hands-on experience in frontline first response,” said Delon Omrow, associate dean, School of Community Care and Public Safety, Centennial College. “To learn by doing is irreplaceable; it’s inspiring to see our students rise to the challenge of turning theory into practice and enacting in real time the skills needed in multidisciplinary disaster response.”
The hundreds of students who participated in the exercise were tasked with addressing the fallout from the wildfire, which included treating health complications such as asthma attacks and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations, burns, injuries acquired during evacuation and heat exhaustion. Students also dealt with the social implications of a wildfire, supporting people with issues like displacement and housing instability, human trafficking concerns and family and child protection issues.
Other issues that students contended with were building collapses, an incident involving hazardous materials and other events resulting in 911 calls and activating first responders, plus the need to evacuate and relocate community members to on-site cooling centres.
Centennial College’s Faculty of Integrated Health and Community Care runs its mock disaster exercise each year to enhance students’ experiential learning. This year’s exercise brought together students from the following areas of study/programs: pre-service fire; police foundations; nursing; paramedic; pharmacy technician; community and justice services; social service worker; nutrition and food service management; esthetician; child and youth care; addiction and mental health worker; personal support worker; and journalism.