Paramedics of the future test their skills in simulated terror attack

Home Park hosts ‘Exercise Pilgrim’
Exercise Pilgrim at Home Park football stadium
Students turned lifesavers during an emergency planning exercise at Plymouth Argyle’s Home Park stadium, recently.
The ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ’s paramedicine team set up the large-scale major incident simulation, which explored the aftermath of marauding terror attack by people using bladed weapons, as well as an explosive device.
Undergraduates in their third year of study set about triaging and treating ‘casualties’ around the football stadium’s gateway, tunnel and stands.
Volunteers portrayed 50 injured people with various traumatic and gory wounds, including stab wounds, fractures and burns.
Realistic injuries were provided by Mr Adam Carter , a technician in the University’s School of Health Professions, with the help of 20 trainee make-up artists from City College Plymouth.

We are hugely grateful to Plymouth Argyle for giving our very own green army of student paramedics access to Home Park to run this event, along with all the other agencies who supported us in delivering Exercise Pilgrim.

Learning in a classroom is all very well, and our University has fantastic facilities, but there is nothing quite like getting hands-on experience; that’s why we run simulations like this as frequently as possible.
As well a learning how to lead an incident like this, our students developed the skills to be fantastic followers, trusting those in the command role during the exercise to help them to stay structured in their approach to the management of this simulated incident.
Having live casualties not only increased realism for our students but also increased the pressure and allowed them to also utilise other skills such as their communication and decision making.
It was amazing to watch our students bring everything they have learned over their three years at University and apply it to the successful management of this simulated incident.
I hope none of our students ever faces a real-life scenario like this in their future careers, but they will be well-prepared should the worst happen.

Dean GrayMr Dean Gray
Lecturer in Paramedic Science

Exercise Pilgrim is one of many simulated scenarios created by staff in the ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ’s Faculty of Health.
The aim is to provide students with enriched learning opportunities across the University’s wide range of healthcare courses, and prepare them for work in Devon, Cornwall and beyond.
In addition to the security team at Plymouth Argyle and our friends at City College Plymouth, the University’s paramedic science team is grateful to the Casualties Union, Devon Air Ambulance Trust, British Transport Police, Lifestar Medical, Raynet and colleagues across the wider University for making the event possible.