Hospital personnel as well as EMS and EMT professionals were introduced to the world of triage – providing care to wounded patients in mass casualty incidents  – during a recent training session.

    Meridian was host to “Triage Tuesday – Train the Trainer,” which prepares EMS and ER staff for a mass casualty incident. The event was presented by the Mississippi State Medical Response System.

    According to David Bonner, administrator for the East Central Mississippi Trauma Care Region, the most common mass casualty incident is school bus wrecks, but includes events such as train wrecks involving hazardous materials or bus wrecks where there are multiple patients.

    “They are rare but when they do occur, simple tasks – such as locating triage tags, correctly sorting patients can seem like a monumental task,” Bonner said. “Reviewing disaster protocols, triage skills and keeping up equipment are critical.”

    “Triage Tuesday” is designed to keep those skills up by gathering emergency room staff and emergency medical services in the same classroom. Participants learn new concepts about mass disaster care in the field of ER and collaborate to provide the best care for the community.

    “They’re coming together today taking hospital personnel mostly – ER, critical care staff and bringing them into a setting with EMS paramedics, EMT’s, first responders – so they can get a universal knowledge on how to triage patients as far a trauma levels are concerned,” Bonner said.

    While mostly for those already in the medical field, the program is open to individuals interested in learning about the field and if it is what they are looking for.

    “Today it’s important that the nurses learn how to fill out the (triage) cards and the EMS folks get a lot practice doing it,” Bonner said. “Mass casualty is something we hardly ever see and hope we don’t but we have to be prepared for it in case we are.”

    Casey Copeland with Rush Foundation Hospital said she looked to improve her handling of such situations.

    “I just hope it will help us be more prepared for when we have a disaster and help EMS and the nursing ER hospital be able to do a better job,” Copeland said.

    After lunch, several members of the West Lauderdale High School Health Program volunteered to be victims for a faux mass casualty event. Each student was given a card with the description of their injuries, ranging broken bones to fatality. To add to the effect, the students wore plastic wounds with broken bones or lacerations and applied fake blood to indicate bleeding from various parts of the body.

    Lee Ann Rhaly, instructor at West Lauderdale for the Health Program, said she was happy the students were getting to play victims.

     “I think they will get to see some people that have been in the medical program actually assessing their situation, figuring out what they need to do first, prioritizing that and that should help them learn to take care of patients more effectively,” Rhaly said.

    Kyana Ebow, a student in the West Lauderdale program agreed.

     “Health sciences helped me a lot with understanding the career I wanted to go into, which is a pediatrician,” Ebow said. “I’ve learned a lot of medical terms, and what to do in certain situations in different clinics and what they have to do and what they have to go through.”

    This is Meridian’s first year to host “Triage Tuesday – Train the Trainer.” Organizers said it will become an annual program. Alisa Williams, bureau director of Emergency Medical Services at the Mississippi State Department of Health, said a federal grant from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – HRSA funded the program. To start, Williams said they are focusing on the East Central region of the state.

    The current program is being held in the new MCC Emergency Medical Center which is next to the Tommy Dulaney Center, across HIghway 19 from the main campus.

    “Triage Tuesday” treats ambulance transports on the third Tuesday of the month, from 7 a.m.-7 a.m., the next day as a triage victim. The first 50 to use EMS also receive a triage tag and are processed that way. The group gets together for an “After Action Meeting” to review and discuss good practices, issues or concerns.