Running Head: DISASTER DRILL JOURNAL

Disaster Drill Journal

Andrew Makosky

Youngstown State University

Disaster Drill Journal

Running Head: DISASTER DRILL JOURNAL

I attended the disaster drill at St. Patrick’s church in Hubbard. This was a mass casualty

and disaster simulation. The simulation contained an active shooter that came into a crowded

building shooting. The police got the call and rushed to the church. They entered the building

and took down the shooter then cleared the rest of the building. After the building was totally

cleared the EMS then came in and started triaging patients based on the severity of the patient.

The EMS put down 4 colored tarps to designate the wounded victims. Black, red, yellow, and

green. The EMS then took the most severe victims on the red tarp directly to the hospital in the

ambulance. The rest of the victims left were able to drive the rest of the severely wounded to

the local hospitals. The designated hospital that I went to was St. Elizabeth Boardman. When I

got to the hospital there were several people waiting to be seen by a medical professional. The

nurses organized us by color and number. I was sent back to the emergency room and was

seen by a nurse and a doctor. Since I had a bullet wound in the shoulder they sent me to

surgery.

The objective that I reached this week was relating cultural and spiritual components to

illness. During the disaster drill I noticed that there were several chaplains to comfort patients

in a tragic situation like this. The chaplains primarily stayed around the triage tarps and talked

to the wounded patients. They asked if they had any questions and if they would like to be

spoken to. There was also a chaplain at each of the hospitals to speak with victims there. In a

situation where there is going to possibly be death, it is nice to have a chaplain on site. The

chaplain can clear up some things about your religion and can hopefully find peace and religion

in such a hard time.

Running Head: DISASTER DRILL JOURNAL

I learned many things at the disaster drill. One thing that I learned was that

communication is key during a mass casualty situation. The police, EMS, firefighters, and even

the hospitals have to be on the same page. The hospitals have to know what kind of patients

they will be seeing and how many patients they will be seeing. If there is a large amount of

patients then they might have to call in extra workers. This communication could make things

go a lot smoother. Communication could ultimately save lives in these types of disaster

scenarios.