Phoenix-area high school students learn life-saving techniques in mock disaster drill

PHOENIX — Students at a metro Phoenix high school took extensive steps to prepare for a mass casualty disaster during a drill on Friday.

Mountain Ridge High School students in the theater program acted out the aftermath of a plane crash, using props such as tattered clothes and donned in fake burns, blood and other injuries.

Professional fire and medical crews were on scene and a medical evacuation helicopter landed on the football field.

Mountain Ridge Sports Medicine teacher Kim Rodgers said the drill was executed to prepare students who are pursuing a medical career by giving them hands-on training.

“Our medical sports science (and) sports medicine students come out and have to determine the severity of those patients, bring them to the triage area and provide the correct treatment,” she said.

Rodgers, who helped organize the event, stressed the importance of giving students the opportunity to discover what a career in medicine could be like in a worst-case scenario.

She said the one-of-a-kind learning opportunity also teaches students how to save lives.

“It gives our students a chance to understand what really happens in the medical fields and to work alongside with other professionals to help them determine if this is something they really want to do as they move forward in their education,” she said.