Piedmont College Nursing Students Participate in Disaster Drill

Explosions, sirens, smoke, and an air ambulance helicopter hovering overhead added realism to the Piedmont College R.H. Daniel School of Nursing’s annual disaster drill, held March 30 at the campus in Demorest.

In a parking area next to the Arrendale Amphitheater, the “disaster” began as an explosion after two trucks collided near a crowded intersection, with the 76 injured victims played by the college’s junior nursing students. Members of the theater department spent the morning riging theatrical “explosions” and preparing victims with realistic injuries that ranged from burns to imbedded shrapnel.

For the 56 senior nursing students from the Demorest and Athens campuses, the drill involved a hectic 90 minutes of trialing victims and preparing them for transport to Habersham Medical Center. As the student nurses worked, faculty members evaluated their skills and their composure as injured victims pleaded for help.

This year’s drill involved the coordination of multiple agencies, including the Piedmont College Campus Police; Demorest Police and Fire Departments; Habersham County Sheriff’s Office and Fire Department; Habersham EMA, EMS, and 911 agencies; the Georgia Department of Public Health; and AirLife Georgia 2 helicopter services of Gainesville.