Trauma Rodeo through the eyes of BLET Cadet Giovanny Gomez

LUMBERTON — Trauma Rodeo has always been a collaborative effort for health science students at Robeson Community College. But this year for the first time, BLET students were asked to join in the simulation, putting cadets like Giovanny Gomez in the line of fire and through the ultimate test of agility and strength.

“It put our training in action,” stated Gomez. “It was shocking to see the number of people involved.”

The simulation started as an active shooter situation, in which many agencies responded, including the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office, Lumberton Police Department, and the Lumberton Fire Department.

BLET cadets trained alongside law enforcement officers, learning valuable skills in hostage negotiation and crisis intervention.

“We weren’t really sure what to expect since it was the first time BLET was in it, we didn’t know what our role would be,” stated Gomez. “It was a realistic scenario with multiple agencies working together to achieve a common goal.”

The simulation was created to train students through a multiple casualty scenario with many injured subjects who had to be transported by EMS students on an ambulance to the mock hospital (Building 17) to be treated. Once victims arrived at the hospital, it was the health science students turn to train alongside residents from UNC Health Southeastern, which included students from nursing, respiratory therapy, surgical technology, sonography, and radiography.

Of course, law enforcement, being the first on the scene, had to access the situation to work towards creating the best outcome possible, with as many lives saved as possible.

“It was awesome getting to learn with them, especially watching their tactics first hand” Gomez said. “They took the time to explain things that they do to rescue hostages, it was awesome to be exposed to it all in training.”

Gomez says that he learned how to set up a parameter to barricade a subject, how to safely respond in an emergency vehicle, and the process of negotiation.

“To be able to get in a mindset of how to respond to those situations was valuable knowledge gained,” Gomez said. “The whole process of negotiation, how they talk to hostage takers, was really good to learn.”

“It was really good to see how every agency knows their role,” Gomez stated. “It shows that knowing our roles is really important.”

Gomez started calling North Carolina home in 2018 after a catastrophic, Category 5 Hurricane destroyed his hometown in Puerto Rico. He had family that was in the military and were living here, and so he thought he would give North Carolina a try, and he loved it.

“I got a job as a probation and parole officer and I did that for five years,” Gomez said.

Gomez now works for the NC State Parks as a ranger. It’s a job that he hopes to continue doing until he retires, and it’s part of how he ended up at Robeson Community College.

“The NC State Parks sent me here to get the training and the certification I needed,” Gomez said. “We are a close-knit group, everyone knows everybody…95% of people don’t realize that we are the police and that makes our interactions interesting.”

Working for the Lumber River State Park, Gomez gets to patrol land in four different counties – Scotland, Hoke, Robeson, and Columbus.

“It’s over 20,000 acres,” Gomez said. “We have jurisdiction over all of the Lumber River.”

Gomez says that in his role, he will have a variety of tasks from cleaning restrooms to helping find people that are lost in the river, to helping put out wildfires that may begin. He says he’s also trained to provide EMS to injured, lost hikers.

The experience of Trauma Rodeo, and that of the BLET program, has been challenging but good, Gomez says, preparing him for the “what if’s” of his job.

On May 7, 2024, Gomez will graduate from the BLET program, having completed the requirements of the training.

“I’ve enjoyed my time here in this BLET program, I’ve enjoyed every little thing,” Gomez said. “RCC is always going to have a place with me.”