Makeup
Makeup ER
Vancouver's Finest Turn to Blanche Macdonald Centre for Emergency Response Realism
Vancouver’s Emergency Response Training is a serious business. In the event of a major disaster hitting the city, an earthquake for example, it will be volunteer Emergency Response Teams that will be working with the city’s population when the Ambulance and Fire Departments are stretched to their limits.
That’s why it’s vital for Emergency Response Teams to receive the most effective and realistic training possible. This is why this September a Blanche Macdonald class midway through the special effects makeup module spent a day at the UBC fire hall creating realistic, believable disaster victims, enabling the Trainee Response Teams to experience what they could face in the event of an actual disaster.
Michael Smith is Vancouver Fire Department’s Emergency Preparedness Lieutenant. He’s married to Blanche Macdonald’s Makeup Instructor Sandra Anderson, and has been calling on the service of Blanche Macdonald students and instructors for years. This September was the first time an entire class had been invited to attend the training, providing more injured victims and a more realistic experiences for rescuers.
“The makeup adds the realism to the event,” he explained. “The more that you make the exercise realistic, the better trained you are to safely respond to a actual incident. I took a course in moulage, trauma makeup, myself for that reason. When the trainee rescuers see the person injured that looks realistic, it makes it all complete. Training in first aid with people who have been made up with realistic, traumatic injuries can be up to 100 times more effective than the traditional classroom with mannequins. It makes the training so much more valuable.”
Special makeup effects instructor Donna Stocker stressed that a day away from the classroom was hugely beneficial to the students too.
“For a lot of them it’s their first time working on location on a set,” she said. “There are no cameras involved, but they’re still working with a key, without mirrors and lights. We’re on tables in the middle of a fire hall and we’re making the best of it.
“We’ve discussed this extensively in classes. It’s not only about the planning involved beforehand, but being able to change that plan as needed. That’s something that happens on movie and TV sets all the time. It’s a really good experience for the class.”
Like any movie set, the Blanche Macdonald’s makeup artists arrived with a detailed brief of what was expected.
“A member of the fire department came by the school last week and talked to the class to let us know what they’re looking for,” continued Donna. “They needed some burns, some impalings, broken bones, swollen areas, dislocated shoulders and elbows. It’s basically an earthquake scenario. You can talk about an accident scene all you want, but when you actually walk into it as a rescuer and the lights are out, seeing victims bloody and injured comes as a shock. That’s what we supply as makeup artists. It makes the adrenaline start to pump. It’s very realistic.”
As the man responsible for putting the training together, Lieutenant Smith, was in total agreement.
“I’ve been using Blanche Macdonald students and staff for over five years now,” he said. “They have always impressed me on their professionalism, skill and, wilingness to learn.”