A group of middle school teachers, carrying heavily-bandaged sixth-grader Nick Bertich on a makeshift cardboard stretcher, quickly puts him down in a hallway in Selvidge Middle School when an earthquake aftershock warning sounds Nov. 12.
As his group of "rescuers" exits the building without him, Nick, taped up almost mummy style, is aided by Metro West Fire Protection District personnel in getting himself free.
Smiling, Nick showed off his realistic "injury" makeup, saying "I'm supposed to be a person with a head injury and two broken legs."
"This makeup is really cool, but the best part was being trapped under all the boards," Nick admitted.
Nick, along with other Selvidge students, staff from all six Rockwood School District middle schools, and local police and firefighters took part in a mock earthquake disaster training exercise at the school, 235 New Ballwin Road in Ballwin.
It was the final day, and a kind of "final exam," of a three-day training exercise, allowing Rockwood Crisis Team members from each of the district's middle schools to learn the skills they'll need to react quickly and efficiently if ever faced with a major disaster at their school.
They learned, for example, how to fight a fire with a fire extinguisher, how to extricate someone trapped in a dangerous situation and how to provide first aid.
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) instructors from the Metro West, Eureka and Fenton fire protection districts, Ballwin and St. Louis County police, as well as other CERT volunteers, led the training.
The scenario for last Wednesday was that an earthquake had hit the area, causing a disastrous situation at Selvidge. Rockwood Crisis Team members had to spring into action, make critical decisions and help the injured.
The school's lobby, for instance, was turned into a "triage" medical area, with different areas for those severely injured and not so severely, said Metro West Lt. John Bradley.
Selvidge Principal Sean Stryhal, looking on, said, "The best thing about this exercise is that our staff from all the middle schools can get firsthand experience."
He said the idea for the training session came from Selvidge assistant principal Mike Anselmo following a crisis-training workshop between Rockwood officials and local emergency services providers in September.
"We needed to make certain we know what to do in a crisis, and that's why this CERT training was important," Anselmo said. "And this was a great way for students to do their part."
Down a health science area hallway, "trapped" student victims, screaming "help!" at the top of their lungs, were buried under plywood debris, which supposedly was part of a collapsed ceiling.
Pieces of pipe were used by rescuers as crowbars and the plywood was used as "cribbing" to help lift debris off "victims."
"All this debris becomes tools; they're learning," Bradley explained.
Bill Roach, with the St. Louis County Police Office of Emergency Management, praised the effort.
"Especially in a catastrophe like a tornado or earthquake, you can't have enough trained people," Roach said. "Having trained people scattered through the schools is a valuable resource. We stress this kind of training because the time to figure out how to react is not when a ceiling has collapsed. We hope the students here can take this training home to help their parents."
Bradley agreed that in a disaster, emergency service responders could be spread thin, "and trained teachers can respond faster and make a greater impact."
"This is the first time we've done this activity, but we hope it will continue," he said.
Police school resource officers took part in the training. Selvidge's SRO, Ballwin police officer Dave Ovca, said the exercise "has given me an opportunity to interact with staff from various schools and see how we can all work together in an emergency situation, where working on students makes it realistic."
"Staff did well, showing a lot of flexibility, and the kids did a great job, too," Ovca said.
About two dozen Selvidge students had the chance to volunteer as victims and be made up with remarkably realistic "wounds" created by CERT trainer LaFaye Young.
"We prepped the kids, telling them to say how much their burns and wounds hurt and to yell and scream," Bradley said. "That was a way to build in 'stressers' for rescuers, challenging them psychologically. It's been pretty loud, which is why we chose a part of school where there wouldn't be too much class disruption."
A group of bandaged "walking wounded" - seventh-graders Hayley Nebrig and Molly Grotha and eighth-graders Jessie Berger and Gabby Tecklenburg - said they loved the chance to emote.
"I wanted to do this because I thought it would be fun and wanted to help our teachers learn," Hayley said. "My rescuers did good, asking if I was OK and what I needed."
For Molly, the best part "was getting to scream and being rolled on a stretcher."
"I'm going to leave my makeup on when I go home," she said.
"I really liked being buried in rubble," Jessie said. "I played someone who was blind, but I knew there were always people right there to help me."
Saying she hoped she could hang on to her "leg wound," Gabby said that if a disaster actually happened, "our teachers need to know what to do so a lot of us wouldn't be killed - like we supposedly were this time."
In a debriefing session, Metro West's Mike Thiemann, coordinator of community services and disaster preparedness, praised the group's response - even those who left Nick behind in the aftershock.
"Rescuers can't rescue anyone if they're injured themselves," he told the group.
Tina Priese, a business education teacher at LaSalle Springs Middle School, said the activity "helped me learn organization and to set priorities in a crisis."
"Before, I had never used a fire extinguisher and had no idea how to lift debris off somebody," Priese said.
Katie Kowalik, a seventh-grade language arts teacher at LaSalle Springs, said she learned how to stay calm.
"The teamwork was great, and I was surprised how much you can lift with the proper tools," Kowalik said.
"We found out a lot about disaster first-aid and the importance of planning, knowing what you're getting into," said Libby Guimbarda, an eighth-grade language arts teacher at Crestview Middle School. After this, I'm motivated to volunteer for more training."
Battalion Chief Ed Beirne of Metro West, which organized the effort, said, "We've been able to teach not just competency but confidence, so staff can take care of issues before we get there. This kind of hands-on exercise makes the difference."
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