How an active shooter training is preparing future Metro Detroit nurses to respond to a crisis
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Oakland Community College recently held an active shooter training on their Auburn Hills campus to prepare cadets and EMS for a crisis like a mass shooting.
It was also an opportunity to educate nursing students on their response to such a traumatic incident.
"Within my community, we have a lot of traumas. A lot of casualties happen, specifically with gun violence," said Detroit Mercy nursing student Alyse Briggs
Helping her community is part of the reason why Briggs wanted to become a nurse. And on this day, she is about to walk into a situation unlike anything she's seen before.
School is in session, but what Briggs is learning is not in a classroom or a textbook. This lesson is a real-life scenario.
Briggs and her classmates are acting as shooting victims during a mass shooter training on the campus of OCC.
The training is as real as it gets, with Briggs getting into a position where she and another student will hide in a classroom as if an active shooter is on the loose.
"So right now, the simulation is getting ready to start. We are just holding our spots and waiting for everything to begin. They said it should be screams and gunshots and everything like that," she said.
Officers and EMS from county agencies, as well as cadets from the community college, took part in the training. It was to help them be better prepared for a critical incident like a mass casualty event.
From searching for the shooter to rescuing the victims, the training allowed Briggs to get a first-hand experience of what it's like to be on the other side of treatment.
"This [training] gives me some insight on what a situation will look like after the fact," she said.
As mentioned earlier, the training was as real as it gets, with the students playing dead or paralyzed as a result of the mock shooting.
Briggs even rode in the ambulance for the first time in a make-believe scenario where she was taken to the hospital.
"This is a little crazy. I never been in the back of an ambulance before, so that's a little crazy," she said.
Briggs believes it's a lesson that could help her become a better nurse.
"I think the big part of nursing is understanding your patient and trying to put yourself in their shoes, so I think this helps with that," she said.