By Lauren Formosa
Grand Haven Tribune
SPRING LAKE TWP., Mich. 鈥� In order to be prepared for the worst-case scenario, local first responders teamed up Monday night to train for active shooter situations at Lake Hills Elementary School.
The participating emergency responders from the Spring Lake, Ferrysburg and Crockery fire departments ran through three different scenarios, with volunteers from Ottawa County Emergency Management acting as injured or dead victims.
Dividing into two teams, deputies from the Ottawa County Sheriff鈥檚 Office re-enacted taking the response teams into an active shooting emergency and led the trainees through the school鈥檚 library and toward the classrooms where the scenarios took place. Once there, the responders acted fast to get the 鈥渧ictims鈥� to safety 鈥� calling out commands, clearing rooms, checking 鈥渦nresponsive bodies鈥� and providing aid to critically injured victims in order to get the survivors out as efficiently and safely as possible.
鈥淓verybody sees what happens in our nation and all throughout the world, really 鈥� there鈥檚 all kinds of critical incidents that occur,鈥� said Lou Hunt, director of Ottawa County Emergency Management. 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e trying to do is get prepared to be as fast and as effective to deal with those situations as possible.
鈥淲e know we have great law enforcement, fire and EMS in Ottawa County. They all know their jobs very, very well,鈥� he continued. 鈥淏ut this is an opportunity for them to work together in teams 鈥� which doesn鈥檛 happen all the time 鈥� so they can be really fast and efficient at getting to all these victims, doing triage with them, potentially getting them to a treatment area, and then sending them off to definitive care at the hospitals.鈥�
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The first responders from each department were first given a presentation by Grand Valley Department of Public Safety鈥檚 Emergency Manager Sgt. William O鈥橠onnell on what to expect from the live scenarios.
Under O鈥橠onnell鈥檚 guidance, the departments were coached and evaluated on important skills needed in a high-stress situation, such as how to best communicate with each other and make tough decisions when assessing a patient鈥檚 viability. After each scenario, the intermingled teams reconvened in the school gym to discuss what happened and what could be done better to more effectively and efficiently treat victims.
鈥淏eing able to practice scenarios like this helps (to develop) muscle memory, so if we don鈥檛 train like an actual incident it鈥檒l become super foreign to us,鈥� said Scott Smith, from the Spring Lake Fire Department. 鈥淚 think the first scenario was kind of easy, and there wasn鈥檛 a whole lot going on from the bystanders or the actual victims. But as the second and third scenario happened, there was a lot more chaos and noise from the bystanders. That was the moment in time where it was like, 鈥極h boy, you have to really rely on your training.鈥欌��
Gun violence has been a heavy national topic this year, with the United States experiencing nearly 550 mass shootings, according to data from Oct. 15 through the Gun Violence Archive. Hunt explained that while emergency management and public safety hope to never respond to situations such as these, they want all first responders in the county to have 鈥渟ome experience without having to go through the real thing.鈥�
鈥淲hen they get into that real-life situation 鈥� God forbid they do 鈥� that stress level will be through the roof,鈥� Hunt said. 鈥淲e know that the body really can鈥檛 go where the mind has never gone. We want (our first responders), if they鈥檙e ever faced with this situation, to have somewhere in that Rolodex in the mind where they can go back to and say, 鈥業鈥檝e done this before, I know what to do, I can put that one foot in front of the other.鈥欌��
The training, while providing valuable experience to the first responders, was also a learning moment for future EMT student Megan O鈥橠onnell and other student volunteers from the Careerline Tech Center.
Having volunteered in about eight mass-casualties trainings, O鈥橠onnell explained that she鈥檚 been able to notice many insightful things about how first responders work to treat patients on scene and get them to safety, such as using their surroundings to transport injured victims. She also said that it has been interesting to get a patient鈥檚 perspective on 鈥渂eside manners鈥� from EMTs in these scenarios and how to stay calm in the midst of chaos.
鈥淚 know that this kind of stuff doesn鈥檛 happen a lot, but when it does happen, you don鈥檛 have a lot of training beforehand,鈥� O鈥橠onnell said. 鈥淭his training (helps) so that when you get in the moment you don鈥檛 blank and not know what you鈥檙e doing. It鈥檚 all muscle memory by the time you get into the real situation 鈥� so when it鈥檚 an emergency, you can think clearly and not panic.鈥�
鈥淚 thought we did a really nice job,鈥� Smith said of his department鈥檚 work during the training scenarios. 鈥淭here was a lot of opportunities as the training officer of this department that I walked away from and a lot of things that we will put into our annual training schedule to make sure that things stay 鈥榝ront of mind.鈥欌��
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