West Chester EMTs Volunteer to Become School Shooting 'Victims'

It was only a drill, a practice exercise for police, ambulance and fire teams from Chester County to get hands-on training in case of a school shooting.

Dominique Saturno was taken out of Conestoga High School in Tredyffrin Township on a desk chair with wheels before being carried by two medics to a makeshift triage area in a field across the street.  She was tagged with a red plastic ribbon indicating that she needed to be looked at first.  She was lucky. Some of the victims were tagged with black ribbons, indicating that even if they were clinging to life the trauma physician on scene didn't think they could be saved given the horror that was unfolding and the number of other victims who had a better chance of making it to an emergency room.

"I had a sucking chest wound so I was just spitting up blood and I couldn’t breathe very well.  I had fast respirations.  I’d been shot.  I couldn’t breathe because of that," Saturno explained as she stood dripping in simulated blood after being loaded into an ambulance.

Saturno is a sophomore at Ursinus College and volunteer at Good Fellowship Ambulance.  She has just finished her EMT training and will take the exam to become an Emergency Medical Technician later this month.

"It was good to see what other people would do to me because I’ve never been a patient in an ambulance before," Saturno said. 

Inside the simulated shooting scene, Saturno said the situation seemed very real. She said she was concentrating on playing the role she was assigned. "They seemed realistic to me. I was more focused on making my acting skills realistic. "It was fun. I totally would do it again. Next time I’m going to wear all old clothes though. I wasn’t expecting so much blood."

Ethan Healey is a volunteer EMT with Good Fellow and rising senior at Henderson High School in West Chester.  He started with the ambulance company when he was just 14. He and other volunteers under the the age of 18 had to watch from the observation area. They had come hoping to be able to play victims as well but told Patch they weren't allowed to participate in this exercise because they are minors.

It was still a good experience, according to Healy. "It’s practice for the real thing so if it does happen, everyone’s prepared.  We don’t get training credits, but its good practice if it were to actually happen we would all know what to do."

As a high school student, Healy said school shootings are not at the top of mind for most students. "I mean, it’s something you don’t really think about because your school’s safe, the doors are locked and that kind of stuff, but it’s always something you keep in the back of your head. I guess."