At one point Nov. 6, Robertson Hall looked like it had been hit by a tornado: covered in fallen branches, scattered leaves, overturned garbage cans, fake blood and screaming victims.
This was all part of Mixer 2011, a two-day event that consisted of seminars and live simulations of accident scenarios, in which emergency response teams from more than 10 universities competed to save “victims.”
Over a dozen “victims” wore makeup to simulate wounds and injuries and pretended to cry, scream and plead for help in an effort to add to the post-disaster environment. Meanwhile, their responders were timed in three rounds and judged on how well they tended to the fake wounds, performed emergency care and other factors.
Fake victim Jeff Yu, a University of British Columbia (UBC) kinesiology student, smiled as he described his injuries, which included a fake head injury.
“I’m supposed to be dead,” Yu said. “So [the responders] basically have to check me and move on.”
On the first day, the event was less bloody, as participants attended various seminars on topics. These ranged from sterile wound care to casualty simulation, which was designed to teach participants how to deal with minor and major situations, like a tornado, for example.
This year’s conference focused on wilderness and survival care, in addition to providing care “outside of typical pre-hospital setting,” said Logan Burns, manager of the Carleton University Student Emergency Response Team (CUSERT), via email.
“The aim of the conference is to allow teams to get together to build and enhance campus emergency response through each other’s experiences, seminars, competition and social activities,” Burns said.
The majority of participants came from Ontario, with some from UBC and McGill University, he said. The event also included the annual general meeting of the Association of Campus Emergency Response Teams (ACERT), he added.
“It was great meeting new people,” said Patrick Pearce, a third-year molecular biology student from McMaster University, as he watched the tornado simulation unfold in Robertson Hall. “Not everyone participated in the simulations, but we got to meet so many other responders from other universities, which was a great experience.”
Ultimately, the competitions helped bring together people of different skill levels and “get a new outlook on how to respond to certain situations,” Burns said.
