SAN DIEGO — A hyper simulated event took place in San Diego's Kearny Mesa neighborhood to train military, first responders and emergency healthcare professionals from all over the world for a mass casualty scenario.
The drill was filled with explosions, gun shots, screams and blood. They were at Strategic Operations, a Hollywood style production facility created to make real life, dangerous scenarios for training purposes.
"It's a lot to take in. it's almost sensory overload. I'm kind of like, wow right now," said D'Hana Miller, undergrad faculty at UT Health Physics School of Nursing, who was witnessing the event.
It also teaches them how to act quickly in a worst-case scenario. For Sheriff's deputies, training like this contributes to their preparedness for real-life situations.
"It prepares us mentally, for these kinds of situations, especially with that added element of the victims, and it increases the intensity of the of the training," said Deputy Sheriff Travis Hoberecht.
Actors in full make-up with fake wounds were crying for help as first responders and military personnel rushed to their to aid. Others practiced their skills in the mock emergency room.
The simulation is produced by the International Meeting for Simulation in Healthcare.
"I think it's spectacular," Miller said. "The techniques and the equipment that they use make it so realistic."
Those at Strategic Operations believe a real mass casualty situation should not be an emergency professional's first encounter with a crisis situation.
"Our goal is to educate today, obviously tactical teams, but for our case, medical professionals. We don't want it to be the first time that they come across something in a live environment," said Curtis Kitchen, Director of Marketing for Simulation.
Staff said healthcare students can truly benefit from this.
"It's important to give our students a safe environment to actually practice the skills in before they actually get out there in the real world and have to implement it," Miller said. "So, if they make some mistakes, here, it's a safe environment. You can go back and debrief and talk about how you can do it better."
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