The exercise opened with a briefing in which respiratory care professor Randy Case told students what to expect and how to triage their patients. From there, students made their way to one of the simulation rooms in Centennial. Faculty then worked to fully immerse the students in the scene of a tornado by playing audio from the 2011 Joplin tornado, cutting the lights in the room and banging on the walls. The audio featured real people talking then panicking as the twister rolled through, followed by screams and briefly assessing who was hurt and who was okay.

The students then went into the large main entry area of Centennial, where faculty had worked to recreate the aftermath of a tornado. Couches were flipped, branches strewn about and trash was everywhere. Dotted about the scene were theater students playing victims, some screaming loudly and some lying completely still. 

Upon entering the scene, Gunn students were tasked with finding which victims had been assigned to their group, determining the severity of the wounds, directing the “stable” victims to where they needed to go and tagging them for treatment accordingly. 

Theater performance senior and Alpha Psi Omega member Jay Phillips said the theater department had collaborated with health sciences for similar events in the past, but only recently revitalized the partnership.

“We knew that it was a disaster scenario for the nursing and the Gunn College people, and they reached out to our professors, our faculty advisor for APO, and asked us if the theater students would be willing to do it. Because I know after- before COVID they used to do it, and then they looped us back in this year. And we decided for our Alpha Psi Omega theater honor society to make it a mandatory service hour for our members to where they come and help out during one of the time slots for the disaster scenarios,” Phillips said.

The dedication and commitment of the APO members made an impression on several of the health sciences students and helped add to the realism of the scene.

“I met with one of the nursing people in the elevator, and they said they were impressed with the theater people because of how they never broke. And Dr. Case was saying that in the past, the theater people, when they would participate, that they would never break character, and he would give them a break and they would still keep acting. And I was like, “That’s commitment,” so it’s good,” Phillips said.

Radiology junior Katia Hansen echoed Phillips’ sentiment, adding that it was an emotional scene when students first went past the divider separating the simulation area from the rest of the college.

“Theater majors killed it though, absolutely killed it. I was like, I was a little scared there when we went past the, what’s it called, the veil whatever, but yeah, it was fun,” Hansen said.

Phillips said the theater students also appreciated the Centennial faculties’ commitment to setting the scene.

“Like they brought in branches, they brought in trees, they had makeup and blood, like sounds, siren effects. It felt like a theater production. They had the bodies, they had the people, they had branches and debris and couches they flipped over, because they didn’t have to do any of that. But they went all-in and so we went all-in, and it was fun. And I think we had a good time, and we will do it again, because it was exciting,” Phillips said.

While APO members look forward to collaborating with Gunn students again, the experience also provided an opportunity for interdepartmental teamwork within the college.

Athletic training junior Keiana Kemp said getting to work with other departments made the simulation more enjoyable than past iterations of the event.

“It being more organized and us working with every other major. Because the last two years it was only athletic training or only nursing, but we all got to work together,” Kemp said, also stating, “I feel like it went better than the last two years, it was more organized and it was also fun. Everybody got to do their own part, so it was great, I liked it.”

Hansen agreed that the collaborative element helped lend more practical use to the simulated disaster.

“It gives you like a little bit of an expectation, you know, as to like what you can expect in this kind of situation. And like how to work with other people too because I feel like that can be kind of difficult,” Hansen said.