Kitsap County is at risk of catastrophic events that result in our police, fire and medical services being overwhelmed. In these cases, trained volunteers can be assigned missions by the Kitsap County Department of Emergency Management to help bridge gaps in life-saving and sustaining services.
Volunteers came together at the Kitsap County Department of Emergency Management Staging campus recently to learn and practice critical skills of triage( sorting the injured by severity) and establishing a casualty collection point (where injured people can be temporarily cared for).
As the Catastrophic Event Playbook is developed later this year, these volunteer members will make up the backbone of basic life-saving and life-sustaining operations around the county. Additional training, drills and exercises are in the planning stages now.
Participant response was very positive:
“I really liked being able to practice the exercises multiple times. I felt I learned more by “doing” each time.” “Instructor was good, relating personal stories to accompany the training. Instructor challenged the students to learn new skill sets.”
