Hazmat and Mass Casualty Incident Management

Sorry about the delay in a post. We have had a busy week!

Friday began with another day in Missoula where we visited with Life Flight at Saint Patrick Hospital and later learned about hazardous materials - related medical emergencies from HazMat specialist Dan Corti.

Life Flight is one of Missoula's two air ambulance programs.  It is outfitted with a rotor wing, fixed wing, and ground transport to provide medical support in the greater Missoula area. The Life Flight team is composed of experienced Critical Care Nurses and Paramedics as well as skilled helicopter and fixed wing pilots. The students had an opportunity to visit with some of the Life Flight crew and also ascended to the roof of Saint Patrick Hospital to visit the helicopter.

In the afternoon, Dan Corti, who works for the University of Montana as their environmental health expert, provided us with a lecture regarding medical emergencies due to hazardous material exposure. Post lecture, students got to apply their new knowledge in a scenario with the Missoula Police and Fire Departments. Below are some pictures of this scenario.

Lex directing

Carolan and Andrew

Lauren, Tyler, and Des

Missoula City Firefighter Rick Pechta helping students assess a scene

A member of the Missoula Police Department relating some of his knowledge regarding hazardous material situations

On Saturday, Missoula County Search and Rescue joined our group back at Rich Ranch. Later that evening, the somewhat unsuspecting students were confronted with a mass casualty incident (MCI). They were told to search  for a lost skier. The students departed from Rich Ranch around 8PM. Navigating to specific coordinates, they came across an avalanche involving 8 victims (three skiers and 5 University of Montana Forestry students). The students had to organize and implement a plan for accessing, sorting, treating and evacuating all patients. They did a great job and stayed positive even when the scenario lasted throughout the entire night. Exhausted, the students (and instructors) crawled into bed at 7AM the following morning to catch a few hours of sleep.

Dara, Adam, Carolan, and Lizzy practicing with some of the search and rescue equipment

Tyler helping recover an avalanche victim during the MCI

Peter heating water for his patient

Incident Commander Dara hard at work

Taking care of a patient

Bren and Kyle caring for a patient

Bren and Kyle moving a patient on a SKED

The avalanche

Des helping Bren and Tyler get their patient down the avalanche slope

Adam joining the crew on the way to meet ground ambulance