On Tuesday evening, a handful of Savannah teenagers bent over bloody bodies to put a month’s worth of critical first-aid and disaster training to the test.
The volunteers from Savannah Youth City hurried through the gravel paths and grassy fields at the Chatham County Sheriff’s Complex, working to stabilize a fallen door, deciding on medical interventions to help burn and gunshot victims and people trapped under heavy objects.
Those needing help during the simulation were actors, but the intense atmosphere of the training scenarios helped 14-year-old Monay Polite, from westside Savannah, feel confident that she would have the skills to help her family and neighbors through dangerous situations like a shooting or natural disaster.
“There’s been a lot of stuff going around in our community and I just wanna step in and help out, and show people that I’m not just a teenager who just sits in the house and does nothing,” Polite said.
The Jenkins High School student was one of several Youth City members to finish the month-long Community Emergency Response Team training developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and taught by county leaders…