The Disaster Drill!

On Saturday, April 18th, Bill and co-workers joined many others in a well-planned "mock bus disaster drill". In this photo, experts carefully tipped the empty bus on its side, the day before the drill. (The damage you see on the bus was sustained months earlier in an accident that "totalled" it---not the bus-driver's fault, by the way. Fortunately, there weren't any children on the bus during it.) Then, on Saturday morning, people in the school gym got very realistic make-up, according to their assigned injuries and parts to play in the disaster. It was so realistic, we decided not to post the gruesome photos. After all, we want this blog to be grandchild safe! Only after the bus was safely on its side, did they place the children and adults playing the "victims" inside.
Here you see that police, fire, paramedic, and school personell were all involved, getting the victims safely out, attending to their injuries, and securing the scene. Even the helicopters from the hospital were there. Waaaay in the back on the left is Bill talking to a "distressed parent".
Bill says that one thing that would be different in a real bus accident, is that there would not be students sitting with their backs against the bus roof, they would be at least 100 ft. away, to avoid sitting in diesel fuel, possible fire, etc.
One of Bill's duties was to round up and return "injured students" who had wandered off. This is a thing they really do have to deal with in disasters. Apparently missing victims, as well as well-meaning by-standers/family members getting in the way, are important considerations during real incidents. This drill was very comprehensive. Bill also had to help console/turn away anxious "parents", who played their parts very well. Actually, they didn't turn them completely away, but redirected them to the school office, where there were trained people to deal with those situations.

This is Jim (who trained Bill as a bus-driver). His part in the drill was to play the part of an aide on the bus, who begins helping people off safely, then falls to the ground with a heart attack. He convinces paramedics to leave him alone and care for the others. Bill felt sorry for him being on the ground so long on this chilly day and covered him(Jim) with his(Bill's) jacket.

Pretty realistic looking. At least he looks peaceful!

Here is Bill (next to the guy in red) and some of the co-workers who participated. To see more photos, you can go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/concholakeaz/sets/72157616950419559/
It was actually comforting to know that our town is drilled and ready for such things. To quote the White Mountain Independent newspaper, " During a de-briefing following the event, Denny Coughlin, fleet manager for the Minneapolis School System, who has participated in staging numerous such simulations, said this was one of the best he has seen, adding that emergency response was also among the best he has witnessed." An interesting day.