how the Voronezh Center for Disaster Medicine works – Internet channel “TV Gubernia”

At 10.00, the crew of the TU-134 aircraft received a message about a landing gear failure. During an emergency landing, the plane’s right engine caught fire. There are 15 passengers and 3 crew members on board. Fortunately, there was no threat to people’s lives. This message is a condition of the exercises at Voronezh Airport named after Peter I, which were witnessed by correspondents from TV Gubernia.

Legend and reality

The runways at Peter I International Airport have been empty since the beginning of the Northern Military District. But the airport continues to operate. Its employees are ready to take over the aircraft at any time, and constantly conduct various trainings. The exercise, which took place on April 18, was not like regular training. On this day, rescuers and doctors trained together with airport employees.

According to the legend of the exercises, the plane flying from Moscow to Voronezh turned out to be faulty. We had to make an emergency landing. Among the passengers and crew there were 10 injuries of varying severity and one death. For the exercises, they used a simulator aircraft that has not taken to the skies for a long time, and the roles of passengers and crew were played by airport employees. Before “landing,” the runway was filled with foam. Smoke bombs were activated under the plane’s wing. A few seconds later two fire engines appeared nearby. The crew of one of them extinguished the “burning” engine with foam, the second fire crew doused the fuselage with water. Soon, a ladder was attached to the “crash” plane, and rescuers rushed on board. They carried the “victims” to the sorting area and handed them over to the staff of the airport medical center, who provided first aid on the spot. Each of the “passengers” was given a printout of his role in advance. The “victims” were injured, poisoned, and one person suffered a heart attack according to the scenario.

Airport employee Maria Syshchikova received a splint on her “broken” leg. The girl, of course, does not feel pain, but admits that being inside the plane was still quite scary. Smoke, streams of water, serious faces of firefighters and rescuers, the alarming sound of sirens – all this helped to get used to the role.

Emergency Medicine

After first aid is provided, airport medical staff triage the victims. Those who do not require hospitalization are taken by bus to the airport building. Passengers in serious condition are transferred to the hands of specialists from the Voronezh Center for Disaster Medicine. According to legend, they are taken to medical organizations in the city. Employees of the Voronezh Regional Clinical Center for Disaster Medicine acted harmoniously during the exercises. As Gennady Balabaev, deputy chief physician for medical affairs for work on civil defense and MR, told TV Gubernia, Participation in such exercises is one of the tasks of the disaster medicine service.

“Our main goals are to provide emergency specialized care to the population of the Voronezh region and eliminate the health consequences of natural and man-made emergencies,” explained Gennady Balabaev. – Unlike a regular ambulance, we do not respond to house calls. Only for incidents with a large number of victims and for providing specialized care to seriously ill patients in medical organizations.

Voronezh Center for Disaster Medicine was founded in 1991. Today it employs 180 people. They have 31 vehicles at their disposal, including 18 ambulances. If necessary, the Center deploys a mobile medical unit, which serves as a small mobile hospital. It may be required in the event of a large-scale emergency and for medical support of mass events. The mobile detachment consists of reception and sorting, dressing and evacuation departments. It is deployed in pneumatic frame modules measuring 5 by 9 meters. 6 units of equipment are assigned to it. The detachment employs 28 specialists.

In addition to motor transport, the employees of the Disaster Medicine Center also use aviation.

Air ambulance

At the helipad, a helicopter of the domestic brand “Ansat” is waiting for a call. This car is produced in Kazan, and the name is translated from Tatar as “simple, uncomplicated.” The helicopter’s cruising speed is 250 km/h, its flight range without refueling is 400 km. Inside, the interior of the air vehicle is not much different from an intensive care vehicle – a seat for a patient, chairs for two paramedics and all the necessary resuscitation equipment, a stretcher, stowages with resuscitation kits and medications, and oxygen cylinders. The helicopter is used to evacuate victims of road accidents, as well as intensive care patients. They are delivered from district hospitals to medical organizations in Voronezh – regional hospitals for adults and children, as well as emergency hospitals. District hospitals have landing pads, and large inter-district centers have landing pads with the ability to receive helicopters at night. From the regions of the region, patients are evacuated to the site in Voronezh, and then taken to the hospital by ambulance.

As resuscitator Maxim Lyalin said, on average we have to make 6-7 flights a week, but there were also 2-3 per day.

“We mostly fly around the region, such a flight lasted from 40 minutes to an hour and a half,” says the doctor. –Typical cases are severe injuries and cardiovascular diseases. But there are also long-distance flights. Last summer in Voronezh, an 11-month-old boy received severe burns. We evacuated him by helicopter to Nizhny Novgorod, where the Federal Burn Center is located. The one-way trip lasted about hours with refueling in the Ryazan region. The child survived the flight well. In Nizhny, a resuscitation team was already waiting on the airfield. They immediately transferred the child to their place and took him to the Burn Center.