WHITE HALL, W.Va. (WBOY) — Eleven students from East Fairmont High School were brought to Mon Health Marion Neighborhood Hospital’s emergency room on Wednesday to take part in a disaster drill that it holds twice a year.

Each drill focuses on something different each time. Wednesday’s scenario focused on how to treat and prepare for a wide fentanyl exposure. Seven nurses, one ER doctor and one hospitalist participated in the training.

The students that participated went to a simulated high school at the White Hall Police Department where they were also given a simulated exposure to fentanyl. The hospital then received a triage call letting them know about the exposure and the students were transported. During transport, the hospital contacted poison control and prepared for an influx of cases.

Students from Jessica Ely’s forensic science class were the lucky few who got to participate in this interactive field trip.

“My kids were so excited about this when I asked them if they wanted to do it…every single one of them was like absolutely this is what I want to do,” Ely said. She said that this was a great way to bring real life into the classroom.

Carla Hamner, Hospital Administrator at Mon Health Marion Neighborhood Hospital explained how the students presented their symptoms.

“The kids come in, they know what’s going on so they’re told about the event. They kind of pick their symptoms,” Hammer said. “Then we brought them in kind of decon them first and then one by one they were triaged by the nurses assigned to the acuity level and then were treated based upon the symptoms that they had.”

She added part of the reason for choosing a fentanyl scenario was because it’s “near and dear—pretty popular in the area.”

The fentanyl scenario was chosen by a hospital group after the annual hazard vulnerability analysis was done and they picked from the top four risks they identified, fentanyl being one of them.