Walking Wounded.
So, today, I gave up my treasured Sunday to participate in a mock up of a high scale emergency in birmingham city centre.
The location: Aston University
The brief: you have been attending a graduation ceremony when there is a gas explosion which affects several parts of the building. There are various wounded.
The idea: To test the emergency response teams and how they cope with a large scale disaster.
8.30am: Yes, AM!!! Arrival at Aston Uni and registration
9.00am: Told to eat danish pastry's - would be rude not to. Also given coffee to wake me up! This is essential; I need to be awake to understand my (very important) role.
9.30am: I do some networking in the coffee queue, handing out my business card; never let an opportunity to network escape!
10.00am: Make up is applied. My wounds were stinging eyes, redness to the face (from burns/heat) and bruising to the ribs.
10.30am: I start talking to a couple of women. One it emerges was in a play I recently saw. This is a coincidence we still can't get over.
10.45am: The 'Green Tag's' are called to be briefed in the corridor. From now on we are escorted by an army official and a WRVS (or whatever it is) woman. We are taken through the building, past the press, to waiting transport in the form of a Travel West Midlands Bus. The idea is that we are 'walking wounded' therefore if there had been an explosion someone would have shouted 'anyone who can walk over here' and we would have been loaded onto buses that would be drafted in to help cope in an emergency.
11.00am: we are sat on the bus. Watches are synchronised, but the 'explosion' (a foghorn) was delayed. There are now several onlookers apart from the press stood outside the pub.
11.20am: We leave the grounds as the 'explosion' happens. Not very realistic as we would have been inside. But the aim is also to test the hospital response and there are lots more volunteers being rescued inside.
I'm going to give up on times now, because there is no point. Basically we were taken to Heartlands Hospital first. Several things went wrong with this:
1. Security sent us the wrong way to A+E, so the bus had to do a four point turn to get back out of the dead end.
2. No one was prepared (which I guess in hindsight is good, although they should have had an email saying there was going to be a major incident exercise on Sunday, last Friday...maybe they didn't get it, or chose to ignore it, I don't know). The doctors wandered round confused. The ambulance men laughed, and we waited. It was only the bottom deck going to Heartlands, the rest of us were going on to Solihull.
They spent at least 5 minutes just trying to find fluorescent jackets for the doctors and nurses involved to wear. No one got on the bus to see to the injured. Eventually they got their asses into gear, but it took about half an hour from arrival to get everyone into A+E, nevermind assessed. Those that couldn't walk were forced to walk to the trolleys and wheelchairs that hadn't quite come to the door of the bus, then put on or in them. And so we waved them goodbye, thinking their survival rate probably wasn't going to be that high.
On we went to Solihull, on arrival they were prepared. Clearly Heartlands had phoned the main operational centre to find out what was going on, and messages had been sent to hospitals to standby to recieve patients. They had 2 doctors and a senior nurse onto the bus immediately assessing us, and prioritising us. Then as we got off the bus we were given a priority badge and told to register with someone who took our details outside, so as not to disrupte 'real' patients inside. Trolleys and wheelchairs on standby went right to the bus doors, and we were all directed calmly inside the hospital to various points.
I was immediately seen by a nurse who took my details, and description of symptoms from me. She immediately picked up on the fact that I needed Saline eyewash as I had stinging eyes and probably debris in them, and she offered me paracetamol, which I took for the pain in my side (bruising). However, I had to show her the bruise, she didn't check, even though I said that someone may have banged into me, or I may have been knocked against debris (I couldn't remember it all happened so quick). Then she got me to wait in the reception, and called me back shortly after, into a consultant room with a Doctor. The doctor went through everything with me, making me breathe in and out, neither he nor the nurse still picked up on my face being burned and stinging, and I had to mention it about 4 times before she twigged and offered me a gauze compress to take down the burn. Then they left me.
And left me.
And left me.
Finally another nurse checked on me, asking if I had spoken to Police yet. I had not, so she left me.
Then the fun really began. The policeman arrived. He went to pull one of the two plastic chairs in the room, as he did so I began to say 'I wouldn't do that...' but too late. It had a massive puddle of water in it, and as he pulled it towards him, it went all over him. I couldn't stop laughing.
He was not amused.
I still laughed.
He swore, which I don't think was terribly professional. Then he got another and sat down beside me.
He asked me the usual questions: Name, Address, Occupation, DOB etc...then asked to see some photo ID if I had it. I had my driving licence, so got it out.
He looked at the photo, he looked at me. He looked back at the photo, and back at me. I smiled nervously. He assessed both me and the photo again, before saying 'that's not you'. 'Er...yes, It is' I replied.
'No, it isn't'
'yes, it is'
This went on for several minutes.
Nevermind what happened at the event now, he was more concerned with my photo ID! He didn't believe it was me and threatened to confiscate it. Then I got arsey, saying he had better not, or I would be speaking to his superior, and that I needed it later when driving. He was like 'why do you need it when you are driving, incase you get stopped?'
'Er, yeah!' DUUUUHHHH, what else are they for?
He reluctantly took event details, still looking at me, and the driving licence for some time. I got the impression he wasn't interested in the event. He asked who I was with: 'no-one'. Where was I when it happened: 'in the great hall, Aston Uni'. Why was I there: 'attending a graduation ceremony'. Who had I come to see 'some fake name'. 'Where was my boyfriend at the time of the incident?' - Er, excuse me? Is he implying something.....
'I still don't believe this is you. For all I know you could be anyone, a terrorist. I bet you caused the explosion didn't you?'
Not liking how this was going I got a little indignant 'I think you'll find it was a gas explosion actually, if you ask people.'
It was hard to tell if he was joking or not, but irrespective of that, it wasn't professional.
It gets better. He leaves, and I wait. I've not been told to go anywhere so I don't. He comes back, asks to see the licence again. I said 'no'. He looks at me and starts telling me everyone else has gone but i'm going to be admitted. I do not believe everyone has gone as they do strict head counts so tell him I think he's winding me up. He says they've already done the brief and gone. I say that's impossible as debrief is back at the centre at 3! He leaves.
He comes back 10 minutes later (during which time no one has checked up on me and the ward has gone quiet) 'They really have gone. They're in the canteen. They've forgotten about you.'
'I don't believe you.'
'they have. They're eating cake in the canteen and have gone'
I ignore him. He's getting on my nerves.
He goes, and finally comes back with a nurse, who is like 'er, come with me.' He is laughing and saying 'they did really forget about you. Everyone else is back on the bus.'
They were.
They didn't go without me, obviously because they realised I was missing, and the lady actress, was alerting people to my not being there. Apparently she even told the policewoman who took her statement that her friend 'Alison has been separated from me in the hospital, I don't know where she is.' And the policewoman wrote it all down!
The marshalls realised I wasn't there at headcount and said to staff I had been lost, could they tell them where i was? - 'no'
Could they send porters to look for me? - 'Yes' but the porters didnt' find me, and I certainly didn't see any porters!
They gave them my name, so they could check their charts and everything.
Realistically the idiot policeman should have informed the nurses, but I don't think he was about to make anyone's life easier. I think obviously he finally did. After he had his fun.
Bastard.
Anyway, the marshalls took down my response to being 'lost' by the hospital staff, and my interview with the policeman, who basically told me he thought I was a terrorist. So i think all that will go into the de-brief. I am going to write to the head of the operation to complain anyway. He did not treat me right that policeman, and I want him to get a bit of a bollocking for it. At the end of the day, I gave up my Sunday to volunteer to do that exercise, I shouldn't then be accused of being a terrorist, or not who I say I am!
This did give me a real insight though, into how some of my victims must feel when the Police get the proceedures wrong. So far the police i've met have been co-operative at work, this is the first time I've come across one that isn't; but in fairness it was a different situation, although he didn't lay off even when I showed him my business card. But seriously, if some victims, and I was playing the part of a victim and was wounded so should have been sympathised with, are treated like that, it's no wonder they hold grudges against the police. And then I have to explain to them that they are just doing their job, etc, etc...I'm not sure I can do that now, having been on the receiving end. Think I'll just end up siding with the victims 'yeah, love, your'e right, they're bastards!'. LOL.
Anyway. The apparently the Heartlands lot didn't fair too well, as we predicted. They were phenomenally slow treating them and diagnosing them, and I have a sneaky suspicion that some of them deteriorated badly before the end of the day.
15.00: exercise was completed, I was given my £10 for participating, and I even ran into one of the Sergeants that I know from work. I collected my packed lunch and went home; to relay my adventures.
Quote of the day goes to Gilly; who when I was explaining about my day, I showed my 'bruise' to on my ribs. She was unusually quiet. Then 10 minutes later I said 'I think i'll go wash off my 'bruise' in the shower now.'
'oohhh!' came from Gilly. I looked at her, she giggled 'I thought they really bruised you, but it's make-up. It was all I could do not to advise you to sue!'
The location: Aston University
The brief: you have been attending a graduation ceremony when there is a gas explosion which affects several parts of the building. There are various wounded.
The idea: To test the emergency response teams and how they cope with a large scale disaster.
8.30am: Yes, AM!!! Arrival at Aston Uni and registration
9.00am: Told to eat danish pastry's - would be rude not to. Also given coffee to wake me up! This is essential; I need to be awake to understand my (very important) role.
9.30am: I do some networking in the coffee queue, handing out my business card; never let an opportunity to network escape!
10.00am: Make up is applied. My wounds were stinging eyes, redness to the face (from burns/heat) and bruising to the ribs.
10.30am: I start talking to a couple of women. One it emerges was in a play I recently saw. This is a coincidence we still can't get over.
10.45am: The 'Green Tag's' are called to be briefed in the corridor. From now on we are escorted by an army official and a WRVS (or whatever it is) woman. We are taken through the building, past the press, to waiting transport in the form of a Travel West Midlands Bus. The idea is that we are 'walking wounded' therefore if there had been an explosion someone would have shouted 'anyone who can walk over here' and we would have been loaded onto buses that would be drafted in to help cope in an emergency.
11.00am: we are sat on the bus. Watches are synchronised, but the 'explosion' (a foghorn) was delayed. There are now several onlookers apart from the press stood outside the pub.
11.20am: We leave the grounds as the 'explosion' happens. Not very realistic as we would have been inside. But the aim is also to test the hospital response and there are lots more volunteers being rescued inside.
I'm going to give up on times now, because there is no point. Basically we were taken to Heartlands Hospital first. Several things went wrong with this:
1. Security sent us the wrong way to A+E, so the bus had to do a four point turn to get back out of the dead end.
2. No one was prepared (which I guess in hindsight is good, although they should have had an email saying there was going to be a major incident exercise on Sunday, last Friday...maybe they didn't get it, or chose to ignore it, I don't know). The doctors wandered round confused. The ambulance men laughed, and we waited. It was only the bottom deck going to Heartlands, the rest of us were going on to Solihull.
They spent at least 5 minutes just trying to find fluorescent jackets for the doctors and nurses involved to wear. No one got on the bus to see to the injured. Eventually they got their asses into gear, but it took about half an hour from arrival to get everyone into A+E, nevermind assessed. Those that couldn't walk were forced to walk to the trolleys and wheelchairs that hadn't quite come to the door of the bus, then put on or in them. And so we waved them goodbye, thinking their survival rate probably wasn't going to be that high.
On we went to Solihull, on arrival they were prepared. Clearly Heartlands had phoned the main operational centre to find out what was going on, and messages had been sent to hospitals to standby to recieve patients. They had 2 doctors and a senior nurse onto the bus immediately assessing us, and prioritising us. Then as we got off the bus we were given a priority badge and told to register with someone who took our details outside, so as not to disrupte 'real' patients inside. Trolleys and wheelchairs on standby went right to the bus doors, and we were all directed calmly inside the hospital to various points.
I was immediately seen by a nurse who took my details, and description of symptoms from me. She immediately picked up on the fact that I needed Saline eyewash as I had stinging eyes and probably debris in them, and she offered me paracetamol, which I took for the pain in my side (bruising). However, I had to show her the bruise, she didn't check, even though I said that someone may have banged into me, or I may have been knocked against debris (I couldn't remember it all happened so quick). Then she got me to wait in the reception, and called me back shortly after, into a consultant room with a Doctor. The doctor went through everything with me, making me breathe in and out, neither he nor the nurse still picked up on my face being burned and stinging, and I had to mention it about 4 times before she twigged and offered me a gauze compress to take down the burn. Then they left me.
And left me.
And left me.
Finally another nurse checked on me, asking if I had spoken to Police yet. I had not, so she left me.
Then the fun really began. The policeman arrived. He went to pull one of the two plastic chairs in the room, as he did so I began to say 'I wouldn't do that...' but too late. It had a massive puddle of water in it, and as he pulled it towards him, it went all over him. I couldn't stop laughing.
He was not amused.
I still laughed.
He swore, which I don't think was terribly professional. Then he got another and sat down beside me.
He asked me the usual questions: Name, Address, Occupation, DOB etc...then asked to see some photo ID if I had it. I had my driving licence, so got it out.
He looked at the photo, he looked at me. He looked back at the photo, and back at me. I smiled nervously. He assessed both me and the photo again, before saying 'that's not you'. 'Er...yes, It is' I replied.
'No, it isn't'
'yes, it is'
This went on for several minutes.
Nevermind what happened at the event now, he was more concerned with my photo ID! He didn't believe it was me and threatened to confiscate it. Then I got arsey, saying he had better not, or I would be speaking to his superior, and that I needed it later when driving. He was like 'why do you need it when you are driving, incase you get stopped?'
'Er, yeah!' DUUUUHHHH, what else are they for?
He reluctantly took event details, still looking at me, and the driving licence for some time. I got the impression he wasn't interested in the event. He asked who I was with: 'no-one'. Where was I when it happened: 'in the great hall, Aston Uni'. Why was I there: 'attending a graduation ceremony'. Who had I come to see 'some fake name'. 'Where was my boyfriend at the time of the incident?' - Er, excuse me? Is he implying something.....
'I still don't believe this is you. For all I know you could be anyone, a terrorist. I bet you caused the explosion didn't you?'
Not liking how this was going I got a little indignant 'I think you'll find it was a gas explosion actually, if you ask people.'
It was hard to tell if he was joking or not, but irrespective of that, it wasn't professional.
It gets better. He leaves, and I wait. I've not been told to go anywhere so I don't. He comes back, asks to see the licence again. I said 'no'. He looks at me and starts telling me everyone else has gone but i'm going to be admitted. I do not believe everyone has gone as they do strict head counts so tell him I think he's winding me up. He says they've already done the brief and gone. I say that's impossible as debrief is back at the centre at 3! He leaves.
He comes back 10 minutes later (during which time no one has checked up on me and the ward has gone quiet) 'They really have gone. They're in the canteen. They've forgotten about you.'
'I don't believe you.'
'they have. They're eating cake in the canteen and have gone'
I ignore him. He's getting on my nerves.
He goes, and finally comes back with a nurse, who is like 'er, come with me.' He is laughing and saying 'they did really forget about you. Everyone else is back on the bus.'
They were.
They didn't go without me, obviously because they realised I was missing, and the lady actress, was alerting people to my not being there. Apparently she even told the policewoman who took her statement that her friend 'Alison has been separated from me in the hospital, I don't know where she is.' And the policewoman wrote it all down!
The marshalls realised I wasn't there at headcount and said to staff I had been lost, could they tell them where i was? - 'no'
Could they send porters to look for me? - 'Yes' but the porters didnt' find me, and I certainly didn't see any porters!
They gave them my name, so they could check their charts and everything.
Realistically the idiot policeman should have informed the nurses, but I don't think he was about to make anyone's life easier. I think obviously he finally did. After he had his fun.
Bastard.
Anyway, the marshalls took down my response to being 'lost' by the hospital staff, and my interview with the policeman, who basically told me he thought I was a terrorist. So i think all that will go into the de-brief. I am going to write to the head of the operation to complain anyway. He did not treat me right that policeman, and I want him to get a bit of a bollocking for it. At the end of the day, I gave up my Sunday to volunteer to do that exercise, I shouldn't then be accused of being a terrorist, or not who I say I am!
This did give me a real insight though, into how some of my victims must feel when the Police get the proceedures wrong. So far the police i've met have been co-operative at work, this is the first time I've come across one that isn't; but in fairness it was a different situation, although he didn't lay off even when I showed him my business card. But seriously, if some victims, and I was playing the part of a victim and was wounded so should have been sympathised with, are treated like that, it's no wonder they hold grudges against the police. And then I have to explain to them that they are just doing their job, etc, etc...I'm not sure I can do that now, having been on the receiving end. Think I'll just end up siding with the victims 'yeah, love, your'e right, they're bastards!'. LOL.
Anyway. The apparently the Heartlands lot didn't fair too well, as we predicted. They were phenomenally slow treating them and diagnosing them, and I have a sneaky suspicion that some of them deteriorated badly before the end of the day.
15.00: exercise was completed, I was given my £10 for participating, and I even ran into one of the Sergeants that I know from work. I collected my packed lunch and went home; to relay my adventures.
Quote of the day goes to Gilly; who when I was explaining about my day, I showed my 'bruise' to on my ribs. She was unusually quiet. Then 10 minutes later I said 'I think i'll go wash off my 'bruise' in the shower now.'
'oohhh!' came from Gilly. I looked at her, she giggled 'I thought they really bruised you, but it's make-up. It was all I could do not to advise you to sue!'
posted by Culinali at 9:47 pm
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