SANFORD — The “child” – in reality, a stuffed doll – lay prone on the ground several feet from the Jeep, with a sign around her neck that said she had head, back and neck injuries because she hadn’t been restrained in a car seat.

There were moans and groans from “students” on the school bus who had supposedly hit the Jeep shortly after 9 a.m. Friday.

It wasn’t real – it was an enactment – but it was a surprise for students in fire science, EMS and health occupations programs at the Sanford Regional Technical Center. Instructors wanted to see how the students would react under pressure and apply what they’d learned.

By all accounts, they performed very well indeed.

“You guys were awesome,” said fire science instructor Harold Smith during a debriefing after the scenario wound down.

The “students” on the bus were bus drivers and monitors from Ledgemere Transportation, the company that provides transportation for Sanford schools.

Students were notified of the “crash” after it happened, and they set to work bringing fire apparatus, medical supplies and more to the scene while those in the health occupations class simulated a hospital emergency room inside and got ready for an influx of patients.

They triaged patients and eased the injured into wheelchairs or onto a backboard. Firefighters even prepared a landing ground so the injured “child” could be sent to a hospital by helicopter.

SRTC Assistant Director Matthew Peterman watched as the students took to their mission.

“It’s an ability to give these guys real-life opportunities,” said Peterman.

EMS student Jacob Boyden, a captain junior firefighter at Goodwin’s Mills Fire Rescue, took command of the scene for EMS personnel, a role instructor Wendy Elliott pointed out hadn’t been designated. She said Boyden observed the situation and stepped in to take charge.

“We did extremely well,” said Boyden after all the patients had been taken to the mock ER. But, he added, there was also room for improvement.

“It’s an exciting learning tool for all of us”, said Nancy Stephans, Ledgemere’s local safety officer, who brought the idea to the school.

“My biggest goal was to see that they get the understanding they can do it,” said Smith. “And so far, they’ve all shown me they can.”

Following the exercise, the students did what often happens in real life after a particularly difficult rescue: they had a debriefing to talk about what had happened, and how the response could be improved.

There were some issues. EMS could have responded quicker if they had a stocked ambulance at their disposal, Elliott noted, but the program currently doesn’t have one, so they had to gather supplies from the schoolroom before responding. And some students in the health occupations program pointed out that some of their equipment was already packed away as the end of the school year approaches.

But they coped.

“It looked like organized chaos, which is the way it is (in real life),” Smith told the students. “You were professional, and got the job done.”

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or [email protected].