Nine members of Steinbach Fire Department took part in a mock three vehicle collision this week in Winnipeg. STARS air ambulance initiated the event involving STARS, Steinbach Fire, about two dozen Emergency Medical physicians and student paramedics.

Steinbach Deputy Fire Chief Ron Chausse says Russ Reimer, Jordan Loewen, Kallen Hiebert, Tyrone Laing, Gary Slywchuk, Steve Rooke, Jared Blatz and Cindi Klassen Krahn spent the day with him at the STARS base. He says when STARS is called to their scene, they see the helicopter, pilots and medical technicians, but they don't get a chance to see what happens behind the scenes.

"Spending time here (Tuesday) with a number of people, you understand the sheer number of people that it takes to run this organization," says Chausse. "So that was a big eye opener for me."

As for the mock collision, Chausse adds it was a great opportunity for all emergency personnel to witness the different roles at a scene.

"We don't normally see what happens in the ER after a patient is delivered to a hospital," says Chausse. "And they don't get to see what we do in the field either. So this is a very unique situation."

Chausse says Tuesday's exercise is part of the fire department's "Train the Trainer" program goals.

Julian Regehr is Transport Physician and Clinical Lead of Education for the Manitoba Base with STARS. He says Tuesday's event was organized on behalf of the Emergency Medicine Residency Program. That means physicians training for a specialty in emergency medicine were given the opportunity to witness the pre-hospital environment.

"To appreciate and to learn about some of the challenges of the pre-hospital environment," says Regehr. "And to give them a chance to see some of the other partners in the chain of survival that they may not always have a chance to interact with, but who are critical to the care and management of sick and injured patients."

According to Regehr, this is the first time STARS has brought the Emergency Medicine residents to the base for this type of exercise. And he says Steinbach Fire was a great fit because of their existing relationship with STARS.

"Steinbach Fire Department has been an outstanding resource," says Regehr. "They showed us and taught our residents about the challenges of extricating patients from vehicles and some of the safety related issues."

Regehr says Steinbach Fire talked to STARS about safely landing the helicopter. And he says they were thrilled with the interest from medicine residents who had a chance to witness the challenges faced by firefighters in the field.

"From the resident group, they had no idea the technical difficulty and the challenge of getting to a patient entrapped in a vehicle, getting them out safely, stabilizing the vehicle, moving them towards the stretcher, moving them towards the helicopter and getting them safely in the air and back towards the trauma centre," says Regehr. "Eyes open wide on both sides of the equation and just an excellent, excellent day."

Regehr says they definitely hope to run this exercise again in the future. Chausse says he is hopeful they will be invited back. According to Chausse, STARS was called to the Steinbach area about 30 times in 2015-16.