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Peggy Wilken gives students in her advanced first aid class a final exam that is drastically different from most˜creating real-life situations to test their abilities.
Wilken, clinical assistant and professor of health education, simulates disasters to test the skills of her students.
"As paramedics, you have to demonstrate your skills as well as have knowledge of the area," Wilken said. "It's OK if you know it, but you have to show it."
Wilken has been doing this for seven years, and in previous years, she has simulated mock plane crashes, school shootings and school bus accidents.
Thursday, Wilken is staging a methamphetamine laboratory explosion at the building known as Sunset Haven, 2775 Chautauqua Road.
The SIUC Police Department's Tactical Response Team, Dowell firefighters and an ARCH Air Medical Service helicopter and crew will also be participating.
Members of the SIUC police team will enter the house and secure it before the students begin searching and rescuing live victims, who will have injuries made up by make-up artists.
Cpl. Kenneth Sneed of the Department of Public Safety said members of the SIUC police team will be role players serving a search warrant. During the course of serving the search warrant, there will be an explosion, and victims will have sustained injuries corresponding to their position in the house at the time of the explosion.
Sneed said a flash bang device will be used to stun the suspects and give the tactical team a chance to apprehend them.
"It's a device that they have been trained to use," Sneed said. "It's designed to have a very bright flash and a loud explosion."
Sneed said the flash bang is not designed to cause any damage and is similar to shining a flashlight in someone's eye.
After the scene has been secured, students, who will be put in four groups with three members, will come in to evaluate and treat the victims' injuries.
"The idea is to have it as real as possible," Wilken said. "It's training for students, the fire department and the SWAT team."
Wilken said one student, who is now 27 years old and has been doing this type of training since he was 15, said her mock disasters were the toughest he had been through.
Students who pass will become first responders through the National Safety Council and the Illinois Department of Health. First responders are the medically trained personnel first to arrive on the scene of an accident.
"It's quite an extensive program, and our kids work extremely hard," Wilken said. "This is a life-threatening situation, and I want to make sure if they are working on you or me, they can deal with the situation; you only get one shot with somebody's life."
