Dear Readers: I am in the thick of Missouri Hope, a training exercise for students in emergency and disaster management, nurses, and other emergency personnel.
Imagine a tornado hits the area, and there are multiple casualties being brought to a triage area. First responders sort the victims by severity of injuries and they are prioritized and sent to a field hospital, where nurses work to stabilize patients before they can find a spot at a nearby hospital. Meanwhile, other emergency personnel search in the rubble and in the nearby woods for other survivors. Incident command coordinates team efforts for where the teams are needed. This is our exercise for three days, with workers from logistics and operations to van drivers to safety officers. Team and lane controller/operators maintain the exercise itself.
Meanwhile, I am the moulage coordinator, leading 4-6 moulage artists to turn volunteers into victims through applying makeup. I am called the Goddess of Gore.
I have been the moulage coordinator for ten years, My view of the event is from a trailer classroom at the top of a hill on university land, where my crew makes up 60-some volunteers for each iteration (there are four over the three days). We simulate scrapes, lacerations, impalements, disembowelments, bruises, broken bones — these are some of the injuries we simulate. We also simulate hypothermia, hypertension, sweats, and hives.
The reason for moulage is to contribute realism to the exercise. Students take it more seriously when they face gaping wounds and blood. I think there is something in the primitive brain that gets triggered and hikes their heart rate up — just as in real life.
It is the end of the second day, and I am tired. But it’s worth it.
Love, Lauren (Goddess of Gore)
Words Like Me 