Special to The Daily Record
SANTA ROSA de COPAN, Honduras – The damaged vehicle lays on its side, its victim trapped inside. A swarm of EMS and paramedics surround the car, doing their best to sum up the situation quickly.
“(The) mechanism of injury (in a crash) indicates the method of extraction,” instructs Steve Wood, a captain of the fire department in Munroe Falls. “Stabilize (the scene), then get the patient out as quickly as you can.”
The accident scene is make-believe, but the training is very real. Wood is one of many volunteer health care providers in Honduras with Central American Medical Outreach for a week.
He led rescue training with members of three Honduran fire departments and a paramedic unit in and around Santa Rosa at a scrap metal yard on the edge of the city.
See more on CAMO’s involvement with emergency services training.
– Written by June Chandler-White
