"This is an exercise"

I recently got to do something amazingly fun and exciting; and yet a little terrifying as well. Every year the various public safety offices host different emergency preparedness exercises to make sure everyone is on top of their game. This year it was held on the college campus where I work and you better believe I volunteered as a victim!!!

The big scenario was basically an active shooter on campus (something that unfortunately is a much to real scenario). There were many different forms of public safety from officers to EMS taking part with plenty of people like myself volunteering to play the frantic and injured that need saving. I played the part of Tammy- a secretary with 2 beautiful children (Jenifer and Jonathan) who was excited to go to the beach this summer with my husband's family who just started really accepting me into the family a few months ago after Jonathan had been born thanks to cementing the continuation of the family name (my father-in-law is a bit of a male chauvinist) . Ok-so really none of that was actually told to me. I completely made up the entire back story. All I was given was a card that said I had a gunshot wound to the leg and listed my vitals post injury. But doesn't the story of Tammy sound like a pretty good one?!? (I'd like to add that I wasn't the only person creating back stories!) And the makeup we all got done to portray our injuries was pretty awesome!

The exercise was really realistic. I had to call 911 a few times for the first time in my life and I will say those people are great at staying calm! Maybe it had to do with the fact they knew this was taking place and I had to start and end each of my calls with "This is an exercise", but great questions and calmness in their voices! Then I basically got to hide while the cops found the shooter. That was probably the scariest part. Hearing footsteps running around, people yelling, an officer finding me (the only time of the day a gun was actually pointed at me-not loaded of course), and just waiting not really knowing what was going on. I can imagine how terrifying it would be in a real situation. My favorite part was my rescue. Thanks to my gunshot wound, I couldn't walk and thus got carried out over the shoulder of a rather fit police officer (I'm one of those girls who loves a guy in uniform!) I got transported to safety, triaged, taken to the hospital in an ambulance (another first), and went through some fake tests and surgery there. It was a crazy few hours of my life.

It was fun being part of it and seeing a bit more of what they would do and understanding how a response to that situation goes. I think it was great practice for everyone from the initial call to the hospital dealing with so many injuries coming in at once. Granted I hope I am NEVER in a real situation like that. Instead let's just keep it as an exercise shall we?