North Arkansas Regional Medical Center (NARMC) is dedicated to improving the health and safety of every community they serve. Recently, NARMC coordinated a Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) simulation at the Ridgeway Fire Station. The MCI simulation was conducted for recent graduates of the NARMC Emergency Medical Responders course.
“Our Mass Casualty Incident simulation is the capstone of our 40 hour Emergency Medical Responder course. We conducted this course as a community service for the local fire departments in the northern part of the county,” said Delbert McCutchen, Director of Employee Education at NARMC.
McCutchen said that to make a simulation of this magnitude successful, they treat the simulation like an actual event- complete with a realistic timeline, a realistically staged scene, and moulage. Moulage is the application of realistic mock injuries for the purpose of training emergency response teams.
McCutchen stated, “This simulation took an entire team of hospital employees, including the NARMC Emergency Medical Services and Education Departments. We were excited to coordinate with North Arkansas College, Davey’s Auto Body and Sales, and Boone County Sherriff’s Office.”
After the simulation ended, the 1st responders received their certificates for completing the 40 hours of course work and the simulation. These students are now eligible to become Certified Emergency Medical Responders by examination at the Arkansas Fire Academy.
“Our goal is to work with all of our community partners in order to protect this community during any disaster- from minor medical emergencies to major mass casualty incidents,” said Scottie Trammell, NARMC Director of Emergency Medical Services. “We’re proud to work alongside our partners in education, law enforcement, fire, and emergency response to sharpen skills and provide this community with the best service possible.”
