Saturday, June 5, 2010

Now I'm Ready For Any Emergency

I had to get up early today. Its always one of those decisions I need to plan ahead for. Like going on vacation. I have to make sure my accommodations are seen to. That the transportation is ready to go. That my clothes are ready to be thrown on. But most especially, I need to make sure I wake up in time for it.

And holy cow! I was woke up in time for it.

I was up at 5:30 and out the door by 6:20. I even had enough time to feel almost human. That’s not usually the case when it comes to these morning shifts. And the best part? I beat everybody that was I was meeting up with for the shoot. Shawn drove up ten minutes after me. And Eileen fifteen minutes after that. I was made of victory.

After loading up the gear, we headed out to Cerritos. We were to shoot a Earthquake Disaster preparedness simulation. CERT (California Emergency Response Training) was using an abandoned Medical Center that was normally used by the Police as a training course and had set up six different training scenarios. It was actually interesting, and used a lot of hands on demonstrations by professional firefighters and police officers.

CERT Roll Call!:

1. SEARCH & RESCUE: In the building they had set up obstacles and victims for CERT trainees to find and deal with. There were some overturned desks and “debris” that the they would have to navigate through. And for the “victims,” a bunch of High School students had volunteered to pretend to be the victims, and each one had a different injury. CERT even brought in a makeup artist to apply different injuries, from burns to broken bones to cuts, etc. All the victims were given a card that explained the injury and how badly they were hurt.

2. TRIAGE: Outside the building, CERT set up a place for all the victims to be taken out of the building and sent to, so the CERT trainees could deal with the different “injuries.” So they had blankets, bandages, and other medical items they had to use correctly. At the same time, the supplies were limited, and the Triage people had to figure out who could wait, and who needed immediate attention. All the while, the “victims” had to wail and react to their “injuries.” It was a little funny at times, but did a decent job of stressing out the Triage trainees.

3. STRETCHERS: Trainees were shown how to properly move a victim onto a stretcher and how to transport them. They just used a dummy as a “victim,” but it was interesting to see all the different factors that went into moving someone safely.

4. FIRE EXTINGUISHER USE: CERT had set up some controlled fires that trainees could use fire extinguishers on. So all throughout the day there were clouds of smoke and fire suppressants. But it was cool to see the extinguishers at work.

5. CRIBBING: What the hell is cribbing? Well, it’s the technique that firefighters use to properly lift things off of victims. First, you have someone use some sort of bar and leverage to SLOWLY lift the object up. Then others put whatever they have at hand to “crib” a support under the object so that it both keeps the object from falling on the victim, but also makes the progress of the person lifting the object easier. “Lift an inch, crib on inch.” You don’t have to do a ton of cribbing, just enough to get the victim out from under the object.

6. NOAH: “Noah” is a term for rescuing animals that are in the same disaster situations. It taught the trainees how to deal with terrified animals, and how to care for them in Emergency situations.

The CERT training was actually very well done. I think I even accidentally learned a thing or two. Hopefully I won’t need it.

While at the shoot, I ran into Mike, who is a fellow employee from my job at Norwalk That was pretty funny. It almost seemed like I was cheating on Norwalk with Lakewood. Hey, they weren’t giving me enough of what I needed, baby…

After the shoot for Lakewood, I met up with Victor for lunch. We grabbed some Mongolian BBQ at the Cerritos Mall. I had forgotten how much I loved Mongolian BBQ! I need to find a decent restaurant more closer to where I live. We caught up and talked about the life, school, and art. I gave him a pep talk that I hoped helped. The dude is talented, but his greatest enemy is himself.

Argh. I know the feeling.

After lunch, I got a hold of Carissa for some ice cream. I got a Sour Grape Icee-Thingy-Whatever that I really didn’t like that much. They didn’t have Peach, and I paid for my adventurous decision. Luckily, Carissa wasn’t digging the Snozzberry Icee-Thingy-Whatever she had, so we switched. I now will never buy Sour Grape anything ever again. See? Now I’m ready for any emergency.

We ended the night by catching The Losers at the Brookhurst Theater near my house. Wow. I’ve actually seen this movie THREE times. I’m not even sure how that happened. But I’ve liked it each time, so no harm, no foul. After the movie, I dropped off Carissa at her house, and headed home.

Tomorrow I will have crepes!

Topics of Conversation: Hans and Franz, the lightning bolt, rice fried chicken things, shell casings, purple tongue, the sudden appearance of an unexpected individual, white cheddar popcorn, realizing you are actually pretty awesome, Jonah Hex, Sour Grape vs. Snozzberry, punk girl in a zombie movie, Cinegear, Filipino food, etc.

-Nate

2 comments:

Unknown said...

yeah..."ran into"...sure...

That Mike Character... said...

Being an Eagle Scout i totally see the value of the CERT program. More people should be interested in this type of stuff. It knowledge that hope you may never have to use, but knowing it can save lives, and Knowing is Half the Battle. G I JOOOOOOOOOOOOE!!!
seriously though...

You forgot to expand on that Mike character. He seems like a stallion of sorts.