News-Letter

HERU members sophomore Matt Bassett, left, and junior Chris Smith, right, support sophomore Will Misek down the steps of Shaffer Hall during a simulated mass-casualty incident last Sunday. Numerous student volunteers played the parts of injured victims du [Click to enlarge]

In a drill designed to prepare students for a possible crisis, the Hopkins Emergency Response Unit simulated a mass casualty incident (MCI) on the Lower Quad last Sunday, with groups of Hopkins students posing as injured victims.

The MCI drill simulated an unintentional explosion in Shaffer Hall.

HERU members practiced treating student volunteers with mock injures, with individuals labeled different colors to designate levels of needed care.

The volunteers were comprised of members of the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity, along with a visiting EMT.

"Overall, the exercise was a success, identifying the need to be prepared for incidents which, though rare, tax emergency medical resources to the limit," said junior Matt Bassett, the training officer for HERU.

While the Hopkins Emergency Response Training Unit conducts a similar drill twice a semester in their training courses, this is the first MCI drill HERTU has conducted for its trained staff.

The security department provided HERU with a van to serve as patient transport to the simulated emergency room near Garland Hall. In the ER, HERU rescuers gave patient reports to the staff, played by HERU members with experience helping real patients to the ER.

According to Bassett, the drill was a "form of continuing education. It helps to keep skills that might not be practiced that often, such as treating a critical burn patient or establishing a landing zone for a medevac helicopter."

Although some may doubt the likelihood of a mass casualty incident on campus, senior Mary O, former HERU operations lieutenant, said, "The situation is not completely out of the question, considering the number of research labs on campus and the types of chemicals they work with."

Bassett added, "[Incidents] do happen. In 2003, a chemistry experiment in Remsen injured a number of students, and HERU responded first to the scene, before the city fire department took over."

Junior Chris Massa, HERU's current operations lieutenant, complimented his group for their performance.

"Most of the responders involved in the drill were relatively new, having only been on the unit starting this semester," Massa said.

"I found it incredibly reassuring that these relatively new members could keep composed."

He added, "It's not easy to perform well in a chaotic and overwhelming situation, and I was very proud of how my crew handled the experience."

Although HERU members expressed confidence in their performance of the drill, Bassett observed that the group still lacked standard operating procedures (SOPs) for large-scale incidents.

As guidelines for action in various situations, SOPs are incorporated into HERTU's training so that responders know whether to call the Baltimore City Fire Department or the HERU reserve team first.

"We don't currently have a set of SOPs for such an enormous incident, and [we needed] the chance to see how our team works with an MCI, so hopefully we'll have enough data and input to write a comprehensive set of MCI SOPs," Bassett said.

As a student-run, volunteer emergency aid provider for Homewood, HERU members are on-call 24 hours a day and seven days a week during the school year, with scaled down operations during Intersession and the summer.

Every year, HERU responds to approximately 300 calls, regarding anything from alcohol overdose to car accidents.

HERTU trains students in CPR for the Professional Rescuer and Red Cross First Response, which provides the training needed to operate defibrillators, stabilize and package major traumatic injuries, identify allergic and pharmaceutical reactions, control neurological and hypovolemic shock and provide other lifesaving emergency medical interventions.

Together with HERU, HERTU forms the Hopkins Emergency Response Organization (HERO).

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