PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — As the rain fell late Wednesday afternoon, a series of explosions echoed throughout the Northern Maine Community College campus, putting the group of teens involved with this year’s Survivor Aroostook camp on full alert.
Youngsters participating in The Aroostook Medical Center’s Survivor Aroostook Health Careers Exploration Camp help tend to a victim during a mock disaster drill on Wednesday, June 21. The campers were charged with helping to assess and care for victims to get them to a makeshift triage area after compounds used in a methamphetamine manufacturing operation exploded in an SUV on the Northern Maine Community College campus. (Joshua Archer)
The latest crop of campers transitioning into high school and taking part in The Aroostook Medical Center’s Survivor Aroostook Health Careers Exploration Camp put the medical skills they learned earlier in the week to the test during a mock disaster drill.
“There was a lot of confusion and there was clearly panic and then we walked down and we see a car flipped over and it’s startling. … It definitely feels like a real experience,” said Justin Pelletier, 14, of Madawaska, moments after he helped one victim who had a big shard of glass embedded in her chest.
Campers, who’ve spent the past few days learning about various aspects of the medical field, came upon what appeared to be an explosion of a methamphetamine manufacturing operation inside an SUV. The scenario included bodies, blood and screams and campers were tasked with assessing the situation and getting the injured to a makeshift triage area across the campus.
“It brings everything that we’ve done for the last week all together,” said Courtney Lovely, TAMC quality manager and co-director for the camp. She said the youths learned a variety of skills from how to take care of burns, start IVs and make a general assessment of patients.
“This really solidifies what it is that we’ve been doing, it brings it all together on a larger scale,” she said. “It also adds some excitement to things. We certainly want them to appreciate their time at camp and for it to be memorable and feel like this is something that is helping them.”
Youngsters participating in The Aroostook Medical Center’s Survivor Aroostook Health Careers Exploration Camp help tend to a victim during a mock disaster drill on Wednesday, June 21. The campers were charged with helping to assess and care for victims to get them to a makeshift triage area after compounds used in a methamphetamine manufacturing operation exploded in an SUV on the Northern Maine Community College campus. (Joshua Archer)
The campers were unaware of the situation they would face Wednesday afternoon. There were missing limbs, shards of glass in flesh, and firefighters wielding a hydraulic device to cut into a smashed up SUV. The scene likely appeared real at first to not just campers but drivers going past the campus.
Nearly 60 campers, participating in teams helped assess and care for the injuries of the five victims before they were carted off to the triage area.
“(We learned) how to secure wounds and how to calm the patient,” Pelletier said.
Despite the efforts, two of the mock victims were declared dead on the scene. But three were saved.
“When the day is over we certainly hope that they take away a really great passion for wanting to help people,” Lovely said. “We want them to have felt that adrenaline rush that comes from having to assess patients, assess a disaster, really help out in a situation such as this and for them to want to come into healthcare.”
Having to take care of patients in the middle of a crisis, and forcing the campers to think on their feet and rely on their team building skills, she said, is the highlight of the annual camp that’s been going for the past 15 years.
