Milton Hershey School Students Gain Experience through Emergency Response Exercise

Milton Hershey School students from the Law, Public Safety and Security (LPSS) and Health Science career pathways recently joined together for practical exercises that tested our students’ classroom knowledge in a simulated emergency response.

“This collaborative effort provides our LPSS and Health Sciences students the opportunity to take their classroom learning and put it into practice in relevant and realistic practical scenarios,” said Paul Gaspich, Law, Public Safety, and Security teacher. “Also, it brings together our students from the pathways to enhance their leadership, followership, and teamwork abilities.”

For the exercise, MHS students were assigned simulated search and rescue missions around the MHS campus for various incidents, adhering to the principles of Incident Command and utilizing two-way radios for communication.

While the LPSS students completed the search and rescue, Health Sciences students established a triage area and responded to simulated medical emergencies encountered during the exercises. Students conducted patient assessments and performed appropriate life-saving measures for each scenario.

“By having our Health Science students involved in the disaster drill, it allows them to experience and process some of the stress that comes with working in emergency medical services,” said Robert Kopp, Health Sciences CTE teacher.  “You can’t learn how to think on your feet by sitting in a classroom.  The simulation will provide an opportunity for students to develop confidence by practicing skills that they learned in class this semester.”

Through the exercise, MHS students demonstrated the skills gained through valuable certifications in Incident Command System (ICS) 100, Community Emergency Response Team, First Aid, CPR, AED, Stop the Bleed, Site Protection Through Observational Techniques (SPOT), and practical nursing and emergency medicine. It’s one of example of how the MHS Career and Technical Education program provides opportunities for students to gain hands-on learning experiences with real-world certifications.

This exercise is conducted annually as a capstone of the LPSS student experience. It is the first year that the Health Sciences career pathway participated.