Collège Boréal held a large-scale emergency simulation exercise at the Sudbury campus Wednesday that involved a shooting incident in the student residence and numerous casualties.
The event took place to give emergency response students a look at the type of situation they might have to face someday.
René Lapierre, co-ordinator of the paramedic training program at Collège Boréal (and the city councillor for Ward 6), said the exercise involved police officers, a police tactical response team, a paramedic tactical team, student paramedics and professional paramedics. He said the effort was aimed at making the event seem as real as possible.
"The objective of these events is to try to get the students to exhibit or participate in a simulation that hopefully in their career they never will,” Lapierre said. “But I'm sure at one point, unfortunately, this could happen in the paramedic field where they work, we just respond to this type of emergency.”
As part of the simulation, an armed intruder entered the student residence and began shooting people. As students began screaming, looking for places to hide and comforting the wounded, a police tactical response team arrived.
The intruder tried escaping through a student lounge, but police officers shot and wounded the intruder.
During the exercise, students with simulated injuries lay in the hallways, behind overturned tables and in dark corners. The police and paramedics worked to search the building to ensure there were no other intruders and no other victims. They also searched for other students — traumatized by the shooting — who may have been hiding in closets or stairwells.
Lapierre said the simulation event allows the emergency response students to understand the process involved in responding to mass casualties, how to set up a triage process along with organizing medical treatment and transporting casualties to hospital.
"So if we can start getting the critical thinking process, the policy, procedures, actions, everything that's going on when you have a mass casualty incident like this, it will make them better prepared for the real life, should that ever happen," said Lapierre.
Overall, despite the chaos, observers were watching all the responders, taking photographs, taking notes, marking down response times and response decisions. Lapierre said he was pleased with how the event unfolded.
"We had participation from multiple partners and community partners, paramedic students, and high school students that were patients. So I think between the 120 people that were involved, it was a great success for everybody, and a great learning environment."
Len Gillis is a reporter at Sudbury.com.