Pte. Christena Visser was trying to focus amidst the sound of gunfire.
The smell of gunpowder didn’t bother the army medic as much - neither did the thick smoke or the flashes of light. But the loud noises and infantry officers yelling at her amplified the intensity as she did her best to tend to bloodied soldiers.
“It’s designed to make you sweat,” she said. “That’s what makes it valuable training.”
Visser, who lives in Orwell, has been in the reserves for about two years and a paramedic for about one. She took part in a medical training simulation at the Queen Charlotte Armoury in Charlottetown on Nov. 24.
The gunfire and blood were, of course, blank bullets and Hollywood-style makeup, which were used to immerse soldiers into the simulation. The fake scenario had them in an active firefight with enemy forces, where they needed to use medical skills to rescue and resuscitate the fake casualties.
“It’s like you’re taken out of P.E.I. regiment and put into some war,” Visser said.
Some soldiers acted as if they were bloody and injured for the simulation, while some procedures had medics work with plastic dummies. One of the most stressful elements was identifying what wounds needed to be immediately treated while under fire, Visser said.
“It’s good to see how the stuff that we learn is put into practice.”
Once the casualties were stabilized, they were removed from battle and transported to the trauma bay, where soldiers would simulate the necessary medical procedures to restore them to health.
Many of the 33 Field Ambulance reservists, who were from both P.E.I. and N.S., took part in lab exercises offered by the Holland College paramedicine program the day before on Nov. 23.
Maj. Trevor Jain, emergency physician at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and officer in charge of the exercise, said simulations like this one help prepare soldiers to deliver emergency care.
“We want to place the soldiers under stress,” he said. “So, when they have to do it for real, the better they perform.”
The Charlottetown armoury was set up to simulate an austere environment, where the only resources soldiers had were their own.
The hands-on skill training and the adrenaline rushes, which were some of Visser’s favourite parts of the day, make for a more rewarding experience.
“We like the train to excite,” Jain said.
This means, in order to better reflect real life situations and create further immersion, soldiers are told very little about what they’re getting into.
“They don’t know until they enter the simulation.”
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