EMTs request new supplies in case of disaster

By Genna Tan

The staggering death toll from China's earthquake earlier this week has put disaster preparedness on the minds of Emergency Medical Technicians at Santa Clara.

These students are trying to raise money for a Multiple Casualty Incident (MCI) trailer, which would contain medical supplies to sustain critically injured patients for up to 72 hours in the event of a large-scale medical emergency.

"We're very prepared as far as having the EMTs ready," said senior Jordan Ruiz, last year's EMT director. "But as far as resource supply-wise, we're not anywhere near what we need to be."

If a disaster occurred and there were multiple casualties on campus, the EMTs would not be able to adequately assist all of the injured with the resources that they have now, said Ruiz.

Ruiz added that having an MCI trailer would allow EMTs quicker access to a large amount of potentially life-saving supplies.

An MCI trailer is a 12-by-7-foot trailer that contains the medical supplies that the EMTs would need to sustain a large amount of critically injured patients for at least three days. A basic MCI trailer typically costs around $40,000.

"The trailer we are currently looking at now costs roughly $21,000, so we've cut costs by almost half," said Ruiz.

"Neither the EMTs' budget nor the health center budget would have that kind of money to purchase something extra," said Larry Wolfe, director of health and counseling services.

The cost is not the only issue with purchasing the trailer. Wolfe said that the university does not have a building in which they can store the trailer that would be safe in an earthquake.

"The main thing they (EMTs) are really going to respond to is a large earthquake," Wolfe said. "But the question is, is there an alternative that would work almost as well at far less cost, given the possibility that these events will never happen?"

Assistant Vice President for University Operations Joe Sugg said that it is impossible to predict what will happen to buildings in an earthquake.

"We had a pretty big earthquake in 1994 and all the buildings withstood that," Sugg said. "But an 8.0 like they had in China this week, we're not sure because no one designs buildings for an 8.0 earthquake."

Sugg added that the university has three options for clean, potable water sources in the case of an emergency: water in pipes, the swimming pool and an underground 10,000-pound tank with an emergency pump.

The EMTs organized a mock MCI last April. It took around half an hour for the squad to move all of their gear and equipment in golf carts from Cowell Health Center to O'Connor Hall, where the event was being held.

According to Ruiz, having an MCI trailer provides greater mobility and would cut down the amount of time that it takes for EMTs to move their equipment across campus.

Wolfe said the plan is to store the necessary equipment in bins in Cowell, then load them into trucks that would be designated for Emergency Medical Services use in an emergency. Those trucks would be parked near the Facilities building, behind Casa Italiana Hall.

Cowell is a "one story building, so my hope would be that if there were some destruction, we could hopefully get to the equipment," Wolfe said.

In the event of an emergency, there are several locations on campus that could serve as the emergency center. After an earthquake, workers would quickly assess the state of the possible locations to decide which is the safest.

"We've done seismic tests on buildings and know how to inspect them to determine if they have sustained any structural damage," Sugg said.

Ruiz said the trailer would be much more efficient.

"If we have this trailer, it has all our gear ready to go," said Ruiz. "All we have to do is hook it to the back of a truck and drive it over, and that would take us maybe 15 minutes."

A medical emergency is classified as an MCI when there are more patients than EMS providers.

"We have about a 37-person squad now, so anything above 40 casualties would be classified as an MCI," said Ruiz.

According to Ruiz, the EMTs at Santa Clara are prepared for an emergency, and are National Incident Management System trained, which is a recognized standard of training.

Ruiz said he hopes to get the MCI trailer in the next five years, even if it is just a simple trailer that is still able to hold gear and equipment.

"It is vital that we get this trailer not only for our benefit, but for the benefit of the university and the community that we serve," said Ruiz.

"We're very proud of what we do, and having this trailer would make us even more proud that we're representing Santa Clara."

Contact Genna Tan at (408)554-4546 or gbtan@scu.edu