Blaring sirens, fully-uniformed firefighters and paramedics, and a LifeFlight helicopter all featured in a mock medical incident at Leonard Cole Field Thursday morning.
The exercise offered Marshalltown High School students a great opportunity to learn about real-world work done by rescue and medical personnel. UnityPoint Health and Marshalltown Fire Department professionals guided the students through incident response, from the arrival of the first firefighter/EMS crews to loading patients for airlift.
MHS Project Lead the Way biomedical sciences teacher Erica Malloy played a key role in organizing Thursday’s event. She said students interested in the healthcare field have many great career-based learning opportunities at Marshalltown High School.
“I thought this sounded like an exciting experience, allowing them to see multiple different careers working at one time,” Malloy said.
Austin White, who recently began his career as a firefighter, said high school students can learn much from reality-based exercises.
“I think this is a huge eye-opener to reality for teenagers,” White said. “We are able to demonstrate our side of the picture.”
Dozens of MHS students interested in becoming healthcare professionals attended the mock incident demonstration. One of those students, Brandon Pelzer, said he enjoyed seeing what firefighters and paramedics do during major medical situations.
“It was very cool to see how, if there was an emergency situation … how it would take place and what would go down,” Pelzer said.
Thank you to UnityPoint Health and Marshalltown Fire Department staff for sharing their time, knowledge, and experiences in healthcare careers with Bobcat students! Check out more photos from Thursday’s mock medical incident below.
