START triage training at Station 4-9

On the evening of June 4th, Fire & Ambulance members met at Station 4-9 for a training session covering START triage. Gary Landis, a field supervisor for Susquehanna Valley EMS, was our instructor for the evening.\
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Some members were new to the START triage concept, others were there for a refresher. START stands for Simple Triage And Rapid Treatment. Triage is a concept, in the event of a large scale man made or natural disaster, of how the injured and deceased are sorted and treated by priority and the emergency responders are able to do the greatest good for the greatest number. Patients who require immediate attention are tagged red, moderate injuries are tagged yellow, minor injuries are tagged green and the dead and dying are tagged black.\
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The evening started out by having a classroom session in the station consisting of a video and 2 power point presentations. Discussed was the basics of triage and the 4 level Lancaster County Mass Casualty response level guidelines that were written by Bill Kanoff from Lancaster EMS Station 6-12 and approved by Lancaster County officials. After the classroom portion, a brief snack break was held, and then the class adjourned to the rear parking lot of the station.\
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Two scenarios were held; the first was a plane crashed into a van on Route 30, and the second, a gas leak with a major explosion at a local business.\
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Sometimes in drills like this, humans are made up and given mock “injuries” to simulate a disaster. In this evening’s drill, we used various stuffed toys who volunteered to be “patients” were tagged with tags describing their various maladies, and strewn around the station’s rear parking lot. The first arriving responders surveyed the scene and assessed each patient and tagged them with a colored piece of tape. As more crews arrive, the patients are then taken to individual staging areas for their color designation, and from there, treated on scene or transported to a hospital.\
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Thank You to Paramedic Landis and Susquehanna Valley EMS for coming out and providing us with a very informative class!