Emergency training in focus

Equipping emergency volunteers to deal with road trauma patients was the aim of a specialist training exercise held in Albany last Saturday.

The trauma training was delivered by aeromedical charity Careflight, which provide pre-hospital critical care around Australia.

Albany police, fire and rescue service and bushfire brigade volunteers took part in the training exercises designed for first responders to the scene of a serious incident.

The MediSim program allows volunteers to learn from highly experienced professional emergency specialists and uses lifelike mannequins and a special car crash rescue simulator aid to create a high-pressure environment.

MediSim program manager Colin Brown said the first five or 10 minutes could mean the difference between life and death for the patient. “These emergency services do an incredible job for their community and they could be at the scene of an accident before professional medical help arrives,” he said.

“Quite often in rural and remote areas, first responders are on their own for a lengthy period of time, so they need to be able to manage that situation appropriately.”

It is the second time the training program has come to Albany.