Schools
'Bloodied' Students Participate In Mock Shooter Drill At Cohens
One student with a gaping chest "wound" said he wanted to do whatever he could to help his school prepare for a possible mass shooter.
Chaminade High School students, donned in fake bloody wounds, participated in a mock shooting disaster drill on Wednesday at Cohen Children’s Medical Center. The event was to prepare students students and develop an efficient protocol for hospital staff in the event of a possible mass shooting.
School shootings have become a common occurrence in the United States. The nation has seen about one school shooting per week in 2018, including the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Shooting that killed 17 and the Santa Fe High School shooting that killed 10.
“The importance of this day is to ensure that we’re doing everything possible to keep our students as safe as possible while they’re in our building,” Thomas Dillon, director of Student Activity at Chaminade, said in a press release.
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At 10:15 a.m., school buses and and ambulances carrying 15 students in various levels of physical and psychological distress arrived at the Pediatric Emergency Room. To simulate a real-life situation, many students were covered in mock injuries made up of rubber “wounds” to their heads, arms and chest.
Fourteen-year-old Anthony Avarello had a gaping chest wound and was listed in “critical condition.” Avarello said he wanted to do whatever he could to help his school prepare for a possible mass shooter. “It makes us all feel a bit more comfortable to know that our school and the hospital are on top of the situation," he said.
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The drill consisted of various steps involved in receiving patients in a disaster situation and moving them efficiently through the hospital. Evaluations included triage, family reunification and admitting procedures.
“We have to be sure that we have the resources and logistics in place to treat as many patients as we can in the most efficient ways possible,” Jose Prince, MD, director of Trauma Surgery at Cohen, said.
Image via Northwell Health: Dr. Jose Prince (right, standing) performs triage on a Chaminade student serving as a “victim” of the mock disaster drill
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