Case Western Reserve’s student-led Emergency Medical Services (EMS) will take part in its annual Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) drill on Saturday, Sept. 13, at 8 a.m. on campus.
An MCI is any accident or disaster that requires additional responding units than the local departments can handle in order to accommodate and triage a large number of patients. Catastrophic disasters are not always preventable, but they can be properly managed by the responders on scene. In order to accomplish an effective and collaborative response, emergency responders use Mass Casualty Incident drills to practice.
Last year’s MCI drill took place on the corner of the North Residential Village Starbucks and E. 115th Street; the scenario simulated a mass vehicle accident.
This year’s scenario will occur at the new Tinkham Veale University Center, as well as on the nearby Freiberger Field. By integrating the university center into the scenario, Case EMS is hoping to get a feel of the building’s architectural setup and explore how to navigate within its design in order to find and triage multiple patients efficiently.
The goal of the drill is to create a realistic scenario that might be sees on campus, but on a large scale that requires responders to reach beyond available resources. This drill allows Case EMS to communicate and coordinate with all different types of agencies, to see what resources are available. Most importantly, this drill challenges the students to apply a critical look at Case EMS to see how effective the group is at responding to a disaster and how it can improve.
Anyone who would like to volunteer or receive more information can contact Tejas Joshi at tcj11@case.edu.