“Pushing realism to the end”: the (bloody) preparations for the attack exercise at the Gaston-Gérard stadium

A full-scale exercise took place this Tuesday, November 28 at the Gaston-Gérard stadium. The scenario: a “mass killing” type terrorist attack. France 3 attended the preparations, with more than 70 extras to play the victims… and larger-than-life makeup.

“I’m burned around my neck and head.” “I have a frontal wound”, “I received shards of glass”, list the victims. Others are even more seriously affected. “I have a wound on my face, I have 3rd degree burns and a gouged eye”explains a man. “I was gutted with a knife by a terrorist who took me hostage”indicates a woman.

Rest assured: all these injured people are fictitious victims. 73 student nurses or nurse-anesthetists, “recruited” to be extras in the large-scale attack exercise which took place on November 28 at the Gaston-Gérard stadium in Dijon.

“These are very realistic injuries, so that the participants are caught up in the game and have the most natural reactions possible”justifies Pierre Guillemet, resuscitation doctor at Dijon University Hospital and coordinator of the attack exercise.

“The objective is to push medical realism to the limit”adds Christophe Marilly, paramedical referent of the reference health establishment (ESR) at the CHU. “We need the victims to have a real objective medical evolution. We have also given each of them a fictitious identity, to fill out the firefighter files, and ensure follow-up at the hospital level if they need to have examinations or surgical interventions. … In short, follow the victims until the end of the process.”

One thing to know: makeup artists are not cinema professionals, as one might think… They are real caregivers! “We are all nurses or nurse-anesthetists”, smiles Aline Bonnot-Talbot, trainer. She is a nurse and works at CESU, the emergency care teaching center.

The idea of ​​having makeup caregivers came from her and a group of colleagues. “We said to ourselves: hey, to make it more concrete for our learners, we are going to create makeup training. To show injuries as in reality, in order to see how to act, protect yourself and come to the aid of someone one, rather than seeing it on a Powerpoint.”

For this attack exercise, the hospital is also using special mannequins, remote-controlled by tablet, which allow technical gestures to be carried out. “They can hemorrhage, convulse, have pneumothoraxes… Things you can’t do with real human extras!” lists Doctor Claire-Marie Drevet, anesthetist-resuscitator at Dijon University Hospital.

The exercise took place from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. this Tuesday, inside and around the Gaston-Gérard stadium. It mobilized more than 600 people, law enforcement, caregivers, but also investigators, prefecture, public prosecutor’s office… The goal: to test the rescue and intervention chain in the event of a terrorist attack, and to be ready in the event Or.

► ALSO READ: The Gaston-Gérard stadium area sealed off in Dijon: don’t panic, it’s a simulated terrorist attack

According to the planned scenario, terrorists broke into the stadium during an international match. One terrorist blew himself up at the ticket office, the others began a “deadly journey” with hostage-taking and numerous victims injured by bullets. The stadium and university hospital area was cordoned off for part of the day, with several streets inaccessible.