Paramedics sharpen skills at mock disasters

EMS challenge was hosted by Boca Fire Rescue

BOCA RATON – Paramedics arrive to a rainy mudfest gone bad, with injured people screaming for help and rowdy bystanders getting in the way.

One man is howling in pain with burns to his hands, arms and face. Another has been knocked unconscious. Six people are hurt, including a young mother and child.

The chaotic scene was just one of five training scenarios for paramedics who competed in the Bernie Tillson Memorial EMS Challenge on Saturday and Sunday at different spots throughout Boca Raton.

The competition, hosted by Boca Raton Fire Rescue for eight years now, gives paramedics a chance to sharpen their emergency management skills, said Tony Jerina, the Boca Raton firefighter who helped organize the event.

The winners get a cash prize: $300 for first place, $200 for second and $100 for third. But even more important to the contestants, they get bragging rights, at least for a year.

Eighteen teams competed this weekend, including Delray Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Coral Springs, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, the Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

The mudfest scenario went on all day at the Boca Raton Fire Rescue Training Center, with each team rushing in with no clue what kind of injuries or how many patients they’d be treating.

The victims and the hecklers played

JOE CAVARETTA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER “Help me! Help me! It hurts!” yells Ken Woodcum, a paramedic instructor and retired West Palm Beach firefighter who played the role of a burn victim on Sunday.