submitted by Andy Zlotnick
On Saturday, October 27, at the Albany County International Airport Michael Zlotnick from Troop 222 volunteered as a victim of an airplane crash. He was one of about 98 other victim volunteers made up of other Scouts, college and high school students and community members. The Regional Emergency Medical Organization Drill (REMO) is one that is required every three years by the FAA and is a good opportunity to evaluate the area’s response to a MCI (Mass Casualty Incident).
[private]Mike got to play the role of a 55 year old patient with a walking injury. Other victims had gruesome injuries that were applied prosthetics or makeup which gave a sense of realism to the drill.
The participants arrived at the Million Air flight hanger at 7 am where they were processed and given their individual roles to be played during the emergency exercise. The victims were all transported by CDTA buses to an area off of Wolf Road where a set of buses from the South Colonie School District were set up as the crashed plane. At 9 am the simulated alarm was sent out to notify the authorities that the drill was on, and they had a plane down in a field with many victims. The emergency response was amazing as two Colonie police cars were first on the scene- they came in flying – followed shortly by every kind of Fire and EMS apparatus one could imagine. A simulated Fire and Smoke generator were lit and two large Airport EMS/Fire
trucks attacked the scene and extinguished the Fire. EMS personnel from all over the capital district descended as if this were a real disaster with real victims. After a quick triage by EMS victims were assessed and moved to staging areas where more EMS waited to treat their wounds. The walking wounded, as they were called, were transported by CDTA buses to a holding area as the simulated hospitals started receiving the more critically injured victims by ambulances.
It quickly became clear why we have these kinds of drills; they are for learning and improving the skills necessary to competently handle a disaster of this magnitude. At the end of the drill everyone was reunited with the planners who served a simple meal and thanked those members of the public who volunteered their time. It was said that without people willing to volunteer for these kinds of drills the EMS responders could not test their skills and improve their response to MCIs. All participants were then given red REMO T-shirts commemorating the day’s drill.[/private]