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Dozens take part in mass casualty drill

Sleepy Eye Ambulance Service EMT Gloria Nachreiner, right, tends to patient C. J. Surprenant as Sleepy Eye firefighter Scott Braun, left, looks on, during a mass casualty shooter drill at Sleepy Eye Public School Wednesday night.

SLEEPY EYE — To an uninformed onlooker, the sirens, flashing emergency vehicle lights — and what looked like blood and exposed guts on patients as they were carried to ambulances at Sleepy Eye Public School — looked real Wednesday night.

Police, firefighters, first responders, nurses and school administrators were among the participants. The mass casualty drill was all for the sake of preparation in the Sleepy Eye High School gym, nearby hallways and at Sleepy Eye Medical Center.

About 40 students from Sleepy Eye and St. Mary’s High Schools took part in the drill that began with orientation from Sleepy Eye Ambulance Coordinator/ Emergency Manager Shari Hittesdorf in the big room above the Sleepy Eye Police station.

Students rode a school bus to the Sleepy Eye High School gym, put fake, exposed guts on their stomachs, and blood-like liquid that poured down their sides and onto the gym floor. Some students screamed in agony, appearing to fill their roles quite well.

Injured students and casualties were put on gurneys and carried into the hallway for evaluation. Then they were placed in ambulances that took them to nearby Sleepy Eye Medical Center.

Even reporters took part in the drill, wearing purple vests to indicate they were observers when they weren’t trying to access the school casualty scene or hospital during the drill that lasted about two hours.

In addition, students and a few parents volunteered to make the drill happen.

“We do this every few years. It gives us very good learning experience,” said Hittesdorf. “A lot of planning goes into this. We began having meetings about it last summer.”

Hittesdorf said tabletop emergency exercises with the fire and police department are done in years when there is no mass casualty drill.

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.

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