by Jeff Bendix

The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the anthrax mailings, the outbreak of SARS and other events of recent years have made clear the need for doctors, nurses and rescue personnel to be able to treat disaster victims as quickly as possible-often at the scene of the disaster.

To help meet that need the National Flight Nurse Academy, a partnership between CWRU's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing and Cleveland's MetroHealth Medical Center, will offer the nation's first-ever "summer camp" for training flight nurses and emergency service personnel in terrorism and emergency response.

The program will take place the week of August 11 at Squire Valleevue Farm and will be taught by a combination of Bolton School faculty and MetroHealth physicians and staff. Much of it will focus on methods for quickly securing and decontaminating disaster sites and treating victims. Among the specific topics to be covered are "Assessment and Triage," "Biologic, Chemical & Radiation Hazards," and "Preparing Patients for Transport." The week will conclude with a simulated rescue or recovery from an accident or disaster.

"The National Flight Nurse Academy's summer program is an exciting venture and exemplifies our University's core values of innovating in education and partnering with other institutions," said CWRU President Edward M. Hundert.

May Wykle, dean of the Bolton School and Florence Cellar Professor of Nursing said, "The National Flight Nurse Academy's summer program is the logical follow-up to our groundbreaking flight nursing program. It will further strengthen the Bolton School's reputation as one of the world's leading innovators in nursing education and research."

In 2002 the Bolton School and MetroHealth announced plans to jointly establish the nation's first degreed program for training flight nurses used in air medical services as part of the master's degree program at the Bolton School. Four students have been accepted into the Class of 2005, which begins with the National Flight Nurse Academy summer camp. Also participating will be personnel from MetroHealth, several Northeast Ohio fire departments and the University Circle police force and other CWRU students. Approximately 20 students are expected to attend in all.

"In a sense, what we are doing is preparing the civilian sector for the realities of life in the 21st century," said John Clochesy, the Independence Foundation Professor of Nursing Education at the Bolton School and one of the directors of the National Flight Nurse Academy. "Other nations that have experienced terrorism have been training for these kinds of contingencies for many years."

Clochesy explained that the summer program is one element in the National Flight Nurse Academy's three-pronged approach to training and education, which consists of advancing nursing practice through research, community outreach and the flight nurse program.

Return to the online edition of the 7-24-03 Campus News.

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