CHILI, N.Y. – Roberts Wesleyan University held a large-scale emergency simulation on Tuesday to ensure the next generation of front-line workers is properly prepared for any possible catastrophe.

Students in the Roberts’ nursing, social work, and criminal justice programs took part in the simulation in order to be better prepared for their future professions. 

The scenario started in the “emergency room” where a variety of “patients” were being treated for chest pain, drug overdoses, and anxiet,y but then a bus crash was integrated into the emergency. 

The nursing students had to work together to triage incoming patients while maintaining care for those who were already there.

“They definitely do a very good job of making it very chaotic and giving you a lot of different things to balance while you’re doing the sim,” says Jessica LeRoy, a Roberts alum.

Both LeRoy and Mikaela O’Brien are Roberts’ graduates who were actors in the simulation.  They helped to make it as authentic as possible because they’re both now nurses at Strong.

“We work so closely with social work and the criminal justice system so, being able to feel a bit more comfortable talking with those professionals definitely prepares nurses going into the field,” says O’Brien. 

The nursing students taking part in the simulation, didn’t hesitate to call in social workers in-training when they needed them.  “We’re prepared for child maltreatment, domestic violence in a relationship and also suicide so, those are the three scenarios that we’re working with today,” says Amanda Hagstrom, a social work student at Roberts.

And when one of the case became a criminal matter, the future nurses called in the future law enforcers in the criminal justice program. 

It was all a coordinated effort in a realistic simulation so that the students will be ready to save lives when the time comes. “I haven’t experienced a fast paced environment like this before,” says Hagstrom. 

The simulation even included airlifting a patient to another hospital via Mercy Flight.

A little bit of organized chaos which is often the very reality of the days ahead for these students.

“Before the simulation, they’re frightened and no one knows what to expect and they’re all very nervous about it, after the simulation, they all take a breath and they’re like, yea, that was really good, I’m really glad we did that,” says Robert Dorman, the Director of the Undergraduate Nursing Program at Roberts. 

The University does the simulation every year for its nursing, criminal justice and social work seniors and most of those seniors, already have jobs lined up in their field, after they graduate.

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