By Lance Shearer
Naples Daily News
NAPLES, Fla. — Lauren Hood says she enjoys playing the victim.
She got plenty of chances Saturday, as wave after wave of CERT volunteers practiced their emergency-preparedness skills at the Collier County Fairgrounds.
CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Team, and its members form a network of citizen first-responders who stand ready to take the lead in a natural or manmade disaster.
In an actual emergency such as a hurricane, citizens need to realize they could have to fend for themselves for 72 hours or more before official help reaches them, said Greg Speers, community relations officer with the East Naples Fire Department.
Hood and her fellow “victims” arrived at 7:15 a.m. to get made up to play their parts. With realistic blood and gore applied, they took their places on the ground as each group of emergency responders prepared to evaluate, prioritize and treat their injuries.
“Oh my God, it hurts,” screamed Hood, a 17-year-old Gulf Coast High School student. “I’m gonna die!”
Her supposed injuries included facial burns and lacerations and a nasty-looking compound fracture of the leg. All around, moans and cries for help filled the air.
To one side, flames billowed from a training blaze ignited by firefighters. Adding to the confusion, Led Zeppelin’s “Heartbreaker” blared from loudspeakers, and sirens and automobile horns made it difficult to hear, or even think.
The noise and distractions are a key component in attempting to simulate the confusion and uncertainty of a real disaster, explained Victor Hill, public disaster, explained Victor Hill, public information officer for the Golden Gate fire department.
“Part of today’s exercise is the willing suspension of disbelief,” he said. “In a real emergency, everything would be much more chaotic,” so the trainers and evaluators are doing what they can to give the responders some idea of what they would encounter.
One key for the volunteers, he said, is “don’t focus on the loudest person. If they’re screaming, they’re OK.”
Those with only slight injuries, he added, can be utilized to help those with more serious wounds - “people with cuts, you put them to work.”
Each situation is different, he stressed, and the volunteers have to be able to improvise.
In the scenario for Saturday’s exercise, a fire broke out during a dance at Palmetto Ridge High School, and smoke erupted from the girls’ locker room. The entire gym filled with smoke, and there was a mass panic as students fought to escape.
The safety of the volunteers is paramount, said Joe Frazier, homeland security coordinator for the Collier County Department of Emergency Management.
Responders are cautioned to evaluate a situation before acting, restraining the natural urge to jump in immediately and help.
Each group of trainees is instructed on how to stop the exercise should a genuine emergency arise during the training. It didn’t happen, but if it had, the victim would have had no shortage of trained responders available to help.
Present at the fairgrounds were personnel from Collier County Emergency Management, EMS and the Red Cross, joined by members of fire departments including Golden Gate, Big Corkscrew, Immokalee, North Naples, and the cities of Naples and Marco Island. Many of the instructors were there on their own time, volunteering.
Core training for CERT members, Frazier said, consists of search and rescue, fire suppression, triage or prioritization of victims, and cribbing or rescuing victims trapped beneath obstructions.
About 190 volunteers from CERT units throughout the county donned their safety gear and took their turn running through the various facets of the exercise. They split into groups, put out the fires, identified and cordoned off hazardous areas, and evaluated the condition of the “victims.”
Hood, who had been evaluated, bandaged, and carried to the triage area for the fourth time of the morning, followed her instructions and lapsed from hysterical and loud to silent and motionless.
Volunteers tried to get a response.
“I think she’s gone,” said Carole Neff, a CERT member from Waterways.
“I’m unconscious,” corrected Hood, without opening her eyes.
Playing her part to the hilt, she even sacrificed a pair of jeans, which she ripped up to expose the ugly “wounds” beneath.
Some teams have been together for years, and others were undertaking their first hands-on mission, so levels of experience and cohesiveness varied. All the teams were thrown together and working with people they had never met before, another way the exercise simulated the chaos of a real emergency.
After each group finished, they gathered for debriefing (followed by snacks).
Frazier praised the groups, and complimented each on what they had done right.
All in all, Frazier said, the teams did a great job, and will benefit from the training if they are called on to perform a real rescue.
Anyone interested in joining a CERT team, or starting one in their area, should contact their local fire department. Those willing to play a victim for upcoming training exercises should call Judy Scribner of Collier County Emergency Services at 252-8095.