Valuable learning for OCC Public Safety Officers, community partners, and Police and Fire Academy students
Numerous ambulances, police cars and fire trucks from throughout Oakland County gathered outside on OCC’s Auburn Hills campus taking over the H and J buildings. There was no “real” emergency but the experience for first responders was.
A consortium of Oakland County fire and police departments joined officers from OCC’s Public Safety department, the College’s fire and police academy students, and nursing students from University Detroit Mercy to participate in a mock simulation event to help first responders gain insight into helping victims in a mass casualty incident on a college campus.
The training was designed to utilize the incident command system for EMS, fire, and police command staff to exercise their functions to support operations during mass casualty incidents like an active shooter on a college campus. The event was sponsored by OAKWAY, an Oakland County organization that helps provide immediate aid and support to member police, fire and EMS departments when they are met with emergency circumstances that overwhelm their resources.
“The event focused on the unified incident command involving several law enforcement, EMS and fire agencies, the search and termination of the threat, and the establishment of rescue task force teams for the rapid removal and care of injured persons,” said OCC Public Safety Lieutenant Richard Leonard.
In addition to participating in the unified incident command, Leonard said OCC officers also conducted the searches, removed the injured, monitored video surveillance of the operations, and tested the OCC Emergency Notification System.
“This event gave us the opportunity to ‘practice’ skills that we train in regularly, as well as test our emergency procedures and policies,” he added. “A significant benefit was the opportunity to practice these skills with our police and fire partners in the surrounding communities.”
David Ceci, OCC’s academic dean of Public Services and CREST, said a simulated training like this is great because police, fire and EMS personnel get a chance to work in a real-world situation so that if this type of tragic situation occurs, they can use the knowledge they gain through this type of exercise to make the best rescue they can and ultimately save lives.
Ceci said that students from OCC’s Fire and Police Academies were also part of the training. The students were locked in classrooms waiting to be rescued by police and emergency responders while nursing students from the Unversity of Detroit Mercy volunteered to play injured victims. The nursing students were made up with realistic wounds and injuries to bring added realism to the simulation and experience what it was like for patients before they arrive for additional medical care.
“To be part of this type of exercise and see what happens in a real-world situation is valuable for students and gives them the type of real-world education that they can’t get in a classroom,” said Ceci.
Jacob Liska, OCC Public Safety officer, was part of the rescue task force for this simulation and focused on protecting emergency medical teams who rushed into the simulated active shooter scene to rescue injured students and faculty.
“We have been involved in training and analyzing active shooter scenarios with the Oakland County Tactical Response Consortium, but I have never been part of something like this where we worked side-by-side with emergency medical teams,” Liska said. “It was a great opportunity to see how EMS first responders maneuver and communicate so I can learn how to better support and protect them if this were a real situation.”
Leonard said that OCC Public Safety staff participatedin a similar training event at Great Lakes Crossing Mall in October.
About OCC
Oakland Community College offers nearly 100 degrees and certificates programs with the resources students need to be successful and advance our community. As a top transfer institution, OCC offers one of the state’s most affordable tuition rates and flexibility in scheduling with face-to-face and online options. The College is nationally recognized for its high-demand career training with expert faculty in their fields. More than 1 million students have enrolled in the College since it opened in 1965. Learn more at oaklandcc.edu.
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