ROANOKE, Va. – Various organizations were in the Roanoke Valley on Friday, spending the day getting hands-on training to prepare for the worst. The disaster simulation involves students from Jefferson College, Virginia Tech Carilion, Radford's physical therapy program and Carilion employees.
"So all of our patients have different injuries and a lot of them have some underlying medical conditions which gives our students some critical thinking tools," said
Kimberly Whiter, director of interprofessional education at Jefferson College of Health Sciences.
The purpose of the training is so they can learn to communicate with other health care professionals while treating patients. Every year, they simulate a different type of real-life disaster.
"This year, we have a multiple vehicles that have been in an accident with an 18-wheeler on Interstate 81 that's carrying anhydrous ammonia. That happens all the time," said Whiter.
The exercise was held at the Carilion Clinic Simulation Center.