(Riverton, WY) – Central Wyoming College will have a disaster drill on Thursday, April 15th from 8 am-1 pm. This disaster drill will be an educational exercise for students, partner law enforcement agencies, healthcare providers, and emergency personnel and will take place on campus near the student center and the health science building.
More than 40 individuals from partnering agencies will have the opportunity to participate in this full-scale exercise in addition to our CWC campus students. Each team has identified specific objectives and learning outcomes they will assess following the exercise to determine their competence and where they can improve. It is a priceless learning opportunity for participants that takes months of planning and preparation.
-Lori Ridgway, CWC director of marketing
This drill specifically allows nursing students to apply their skills and training from the classroom to a real-life scenario.
“The nursing students will be using such skills as assessment, application of the nursing process and allocation of scarce resources in response to a community emergency,” Instructor of Nursing Terry Wilson said.
Moulage will be used which is the art of applying mock injuries. This will help train the nursing students in emergency situations to assess and treat people’s injuries. Not only does this exercise help nursing students but it also allows criminal justice students to shadow the Fremont County Police Departments, who are also part of the drill. Students will observe the officer’s actions during the crisis situation and participate in a debriefing session following the exercise for an after-action review.
This year CWC’s new media students will practice their journalism skills by reporting the event and learning to work with emergency personnel during a mass casualty event.
Local media are welcome to attend the event. There will be a designated area for media to report the drill. Following the debriefing session at 12 pm in the Health and Science Center, media personnel will have the opportunity to ask participants questions. Prominent signage indicating to the public that this is only a drill will be placed in the area. This disaster drill is meant to look realistic, therefore CWC wants to inform the community in advance that this is only a drill to educate healthcare and emergency personnel and CWC students.