MANCOS – As the Flight For Life Colorado helicopter began circling Pueblo Community College’s Southwest campus in Mancos on Saturday, graduating law enforcement and health care students gazed up in awe.
Many were still bleary eyed from the early morning awakening. Some donned scrubs and EMT uniforms while others rested their hands on the orange polymer pistol replicas secure in their holsters.
After the Flight For Life helicopter landed, pilots instructed students on setting up an appropriate landing zone and transferring a patient to their stretcher before takeoff. Then students dispersed, stationing themselves at a mock emergency room, a fake home and an SUV topped with blue and red lights before the multi-department crisis hit.
The college tries to organize this mass crisis simulation every graduation cycle as a capstone for students preparing to enter into the law enforcement, nursing or EMS workforce.
“I think it’s really important to have live scenario training for this kind of stuff in general,” said Preston Davis, who is preparing to work patrol for Durango Police Department.
Davis, like many of his peers, had never had the chance to interact with other first responder and health care students outside his discipline. In the scenarios, supervising instructors emphasized the importance of clear and respectful communication between departments and tried to build community and understanding between all divisions.
“We’re all kind of on the same page,” said Leigh Sand, coordinator for the nursing program. “We may just have different objectives.”
Sand said there are limited opportunities for students to interact with each other cross-discipline, the importance of which was illustrated through crisis scenarios that trickled through all divisions.
An acting 911 dispatcher informed police of a domestic violence dispute, an inebriated and aggressive suspect, and a bicycle accident via walkie-talkie. Law enforcement students conducted interviews and made arrests, restraining one suspect as she acted out a drunken barrage of insults.
EMTs and paramedics arrived on scene to assess conditions and transport victims to the emergency department. After taking the ambulance on a couple spins around the block, they unloaded the gurney in the back of the building and wheeled it toward the nursing students who deposited patients in beds and began to ask about symptoms and administer pretend medications.
“In the moment you kind of zone in and fall back on your training,” Esther Spargur, a graduating nursing student who served in the Air National Guard’s 188th rescue squadron, said.
She didn’t plan on going to nursing school but after the pandemic hit she began working with Department of Health workers and providers on the Navajo reservation – sparking an interest in the work.
As someone who’s been in emergency situations before, Spargur knows there’s little room for error.
“That’s the time to make mistakes, when you’re in training,” Spargur said.
As crisis after crisis hit, students ran through the halls, gathering supplies with tense shoulders and sharp eyes – now fully awake.
On par with the students, the patients – all PCC staff, family members or friends – committed to their bits.
One boy ate an Oreo with blue filling to give his lips a color indicative of low oxygen. A woman, playing a pregnant victim of domestic violence, tucked padding under her shirt and smeared red and purple paint on her face. One girl, the aggressive passenger in the car of a suspected drunk driver, poured water onto law enforcement students and climbed atop their cars, hurling insults and bursting out into song.
Sand estimated that the majority of PCC graduates would be staying in Montezuma County for their careers.
“There’s a perpetual need for all these disciplines,” Sand said, adding that the community college’s training provides them with the tools to help residents in their own region.
“It’s an investment into the community,” she said.
avanderveen@the-journal.com
