OhioHealth ran a simulation Thursday alongside Columbus police and fire that included real-life emergency scenarios. The simulation took place at the Columbus Fire Training Academy and was meant to help staff practice how to respond to medical emergencies.
The scenarios included an explosion and a car driving through a crowd of people. OhioHealth’s simulation team had actors pretending to be injured, complete with props and fake blood. Mannequins were also used to simulate people who would be seriously injured.
Both actors and mannequins were given descriptions of their injuries and staff were tasked with evaluating their injuries and giving them medical assistance.
“The biggest thing in this is not to get overwhelmed, not to get frozen,” said Dr. Robert Lowe, medical director at Columbus Fire.
“Obviously our job is the response to when something happens, and so practicing that is of utmost importance for us, but sometimes that teamwork is even the bigger piece of it, and that's really what today is about,” he said.
The simulation also included many other medical professionals, Homeland Security personnel, race directors and amateur radio operators
"We always practice the high frequency high risk situations, whether that's heat related illnesses, sports, medical injuries, things like that, but some of these lower frequency events where we've got multiple victims, mass casualty incidents, things like that, we need to make sure that the processes work before we have an actual event take place,” said Dr. Brad Gable, OhioHealth’s medical director for simulation.