Medical students take part in disaster drill simulating mass casualty event on Long Island
BETHPAGE, N.Y. - Medical students on Long Island are ready for a potential disaster.
The Zucker School of Medicine put its first-year students through unique training, responding to a mass casualty event.
As CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reports, these future doctors are also learning to be EMTs.
The screams are simulated, and so is the smoke, but the scenario is all too real: A mass shooting on a train, or derailment. In this drill, medical students are learning just how chaotic and critical the front of the front lines are.
Ninety-nine first-year students with Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell teamed up with the Nassau Fire Academy, who teach what hell can look like.
"It's one thing to talk about it. It's one thing to plan for it, but until it's hands-on, you're not building the muscle memory necessary for this," said Chief Michael Strong of the Nassau County Fire Service Academy.
"This is what we want because in a real situation we are going to have chaos like this, people yelling, screaming, grabbing on to the rescuers," said EMS instructor George Sandas.
The drill teaches future doctors to think and act decisively.
"Definitely a lot to take in. A little stressful, but in a good way, you know. I think it's a great learning experience," said medical student Allison Winter.
Because disaster can strike anywhere: A terrorist attack, a crash, a mass shooting.
"I grew up with school shootings happening very often," said medical student Nefes Prizada. "I was a little shaken, but I was grateful for the opportunity to learn what to do in that situation."
"What they're doing here is rapid assessment, rapid treatment. They're doing a really good job of triaging," said Paul Wilders of the Nassau County Fire Service Academy.
The training is unique for medical students. It is one of the only such programs in the nation, rising out of the ashes of 9/11.
"We decided to bring alive the lessons learned, really items that we thought every physician should know, regardless of specialty, about being involved in a disaster," said Dr. Brad Kaufman, an associate professor at the Zucker School of Medicine.
"This is all about learning to be yourself in an emergency situation," said Zucker School of Medicine Dean Dr. David Battinelli.
Students will finish their first weeks of medical schools as certified EMTs, because disaster is not a matter of if, but when.
