Corbin Area Technology Center students work with area first responders during mock crash

A head-on collision Friday morning on the utility road behind the baseball field at Corbin High School provided a teaching moment for the criminal justice, EMT/Fire and health science students at the Corbin Area Technology Center.

Under the direction of teachers Tackett Wilson, Julia Rollins and Lesha Powell, and with the guidance of Corbin firefighters and police, Whitley County EMS, Oak Grove Fire Department and Kentucky State Police Division of Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Officer Steve Douglas, the students extricated a patient from the vehicle, treated patients in a triage area and then loaded them into a waiting ambulance.

Corbin firefighters demonstrated the proper technique when using the Jaws-of-Life and then gave each of the aspiring firefighters the opportunity to use the tools.

“It was heavy, but it was very interesting,” said sophomore J.T. Moore.

Nursing students were responsible for treating not just the occupants of the car, but multiple “bystanders” that were also suffering from various injuries ranging from shock to broken bones, bleeding wounds and burns.

“It is interesting because before this we had only read about it in a book,” said senior Anna Fox.

Wilson’s students in the criminal justice class were charged with investigating the crash, learning to mark, tag and appropriately handle evidence at the scene, to note the locations of the vehicles before the scene is cleared and to conduct an investigation into a crash where alcohol may have been a factor.

Corbin Fire Department Battalion Chief Aric Young said most of the students took the exercise seriously.

“It was a good experience for them to help them see what they are getting into,” Young said.

“Some of them were nervous and some jumped right in and went for it,” Young said of the students that had the opportunity to use the Jaws-of-Life.

Powell said the biggest thing the teachers wanted to come out of the exercise was for the students to experience a little bit of what they would face at the scene of a crash.

“It went really well,” Powell said.