Once a year, things get a little crazy and significantly more bloody in the Student Recreation Center.
Every Halloween, the student staff at the Student Recreation Center (SRC) looks forward to an intense first aid training scenario titled “Our Little Shop of Horrors.
“It’s something that’s just outside the norm,” Mahoney said. “It’s something fun we can do on Halloween and get away with it.” The staff participates in various scenarios throughout the fall but the Halloween training session takes first aid training to the next level.
“Basically what we do is make somebody get really messed up,” said Brian Mahoney, campus recreation operations supervisor. “This morning he sawed his foot off. He also had a piece of glass embedded in his forehead.”
Staff responders have to help the scenario victim as if the ordeal happened in real life. This time, the victim was Climbing Center Coordinator Trevor Fulton.
“They’re a little anxious about it when they know (the scenario) is going to be happening,” Mahoney said. “They use it as a learning opportunity and I think they have fun with it.”
The event began a few years ago when Mahoney and his student managers were looking for something fun and educational to do for Halloween. “Our Little Shop of Horrors,” was a success and the SRC staff looks forward to it every year.
“It’s just a Halloween thing to see how they would deal with a major trauma issue,” Mahoney said. “The staff enjoy it and know to look forward to it.”
The name spoofs the movie “Little Shop of Horrors,” and hints at the training venue.
“We actually do this in our shop in the Rec Center,” Mahoney said. “We put up a couple of signs on the outside of (the shop) and we lay a bunch of towels down because we are going to get blood everywhere.”
The event serves as an opportunity for staff members to handle life-threatening events that could occur.
“We do a heart attack CPR education, fainting, nosebleeds, open wounds, broken bones and sprains, and choking,” Mahoney said. “It’s a learning tool for them too because normally most of our scenarios don’t involve a cut off limb or glass stuck in the head.”
Although nobody is likely to lose a limb in the SRC, “Our Little Shop of Horrors” is made as realistic as possible for those involved.
“(Fulton) had an amputated foot laying there. This is somebody screaming and there’s lots of blood pumping,” Mahoney said. “It’s not something we normally train for although it’s part of their first aid training.”