Have You Ever Wanted to Be An Extra? Here's Your Chance to Role-Play and Help Out

On  November 14, 2007 ,  the Office of Homeland Security is mounting "Golden Guardian 2007", a full-scale   disaster-preparedness exercise for Santa Clara County.

The plot is this: there's a rock concert at San Jose's Municipal Stadium and Silicon Valley is the subject of a bio-terror attack.  The scenario is fake, but the responders are real.  They need "victims" to practice on.  That's where you come in.  Be a victim!  You'll have a script!

Read more below the fold or go directly to The Volunteer Center of Silicon Valley,
or call (408) 247-1126.

Emergency drill organizers seek 500 volunteers for "attack" on mock rock concert

By Lisa Fernandez Mercury News

How would you like to spend the day inside a crowded stadium, pretending to vomit and be drenched in fake chemical gas? Sound like fun? Wait, there's more.

Well, you won't get paid. But you will be helping out local firefighters, police officers and paramedics practice for the biggest and most unusual emergency drill in California - a mock bio-terrorist attack on Nov. 14 in Silicon Valley where 500 guests are attending an all-night rock concert at Municipal Stadium in San Jose. Organizers say it's the first time in Santa Clara County that regular citizens en masse are being asked to participate in this type of drill, which California's 58 counties first began practicing in 2004, as fallout from the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The program, dubbed "Golden Guardian," is funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and managed by the state Office of Homeland Security. A 2005 drill in Oakland featured a mock attack on a "concert" at McAfee Coliseum.

"We've always had victims, but they've been off-duty professionals," said Tim Quigley, executive director of the Volunteer Center of Silicon Valley, a key partner of the operation. "This is the first time we're testing the real population. It's one thing to be academic, but we wanted to test the strength of the system."

So Quigley is putting out a call to find 500 volunteers who will spend seven hours on Nov. 14 to role-play characters at a mock rock concert. (In reality, organizers will feature movies and live bands throughout the day, plus free breakfast and lunch.)

Any volunteer is welcome: That includes kids, senior citizens, people who don't speak English and disabled people who are in wheelchairs, deaf and blind.

"We need a good demographic of Santa Clara County," Quigley said.

[snip]

On drill day, volunteers will be handed cards with their character assignments. They might be asked to act like an obnoxious jerk, a timid grandma, or someone who has just fainted after an unknown chemical gas has been released into the air.

[snip]

Even toddlers who show up will be put to good use.

"If the mother pretends to faint, our emergency responders have to figure out how to take care of that child," Quigley said. "We want this to be as real as possible."

I can't volunteer as I have two obligations that day, but I encourage you to go if you can.

Here's a report on Golden Guardian 2006

Comments

[Joel]

But what if our therapists have told us to stop playing the part of the victim?