A woman screams for help outside a warehouse. A utility worker is on the ground clutching his leg, his jeans soaked in fake blood. Another employee rushes in, yelling that more people are hurt.
Inside the chaos, Chelan PUD employees Adam Gormely and Annabelle Babst move quickly. One applies pressure to the wound while the other calls for gauze and directs bystanders to wait for the ambulance.
“Tourniquet!” Babst shouts as the injured worker groans in pain.
It looks and sounds real because that is exactly the point. The scene is part of Chelan PUD’s Immediate Responder Training program, an advanced hands-on course designed to teach utility workers how to save lives during severe bleeding emergencies before first responders arrive. For many workers, the experience is unlike any training they have ever completed. The realistic simulations force employees to think clearly under stress, work as a team, and respond with confidence.
“The emotional part was the part I couldn’t control,” said Gormely, who is the PUD’s control systems engineer lead. “I know logically it’s an exercise, but my brain is telling me this is real.”
Employees repeatedly mentioned wanting to protect co-workers, friends, and family members. Several participants said the training gave them the confidence to step forward instead of freezing during an emergency.
“It allowed me to move past that fear to actually assess the situation,” said Babst, a process administrator in the safety department.
At first, Babst questioned whether she was the right person to respond.
“I feel like I have the skills now to at least be able to help,” she said.
Beyond the check-a-box training
At Chelan PUD’s Hawley Street warehouse, instructor Jenn Foreman began the one-day training with a lecture that walked the class through the basics. She introduced the MARCH assessment system, which prioritizes life-threatening injuries in the order they are most likely to kill a patient: massive hemorrhage, airway, respirations, circulation, and head injury/hypothermia.
She also showed them how and when to use tourniquets, how to pack a wound with pressure and gauze, and how to use chest seals. Then, trainees practiced applying tourniquets to themselves and co-workers. By repeatedly practicing those steps, participants began responding automatically.
“If it’s this kind of wound, do this. This kind of wound? Do this,” Chelan PUD Safety Director Jared Watts said after taking the training. “I don’t even have to think about it. I’m ready.”
In one exercise, trainees wore blindfolds while trying to locate unknown wounds on simulated patients. Instructors then squirted water on the simulated patients, which represented bleeding injuries. The exercise tested the trainee’s ability to stay calm under pressure, work by feel, locate the injury, apply a tourniquet, and stabilize the patient.
Chelan PUD Distribution Superintendent Cody Murdock nimbly felt around his patient’s arms, neck, and torso during the initial assessment. The patient winced and convulsed in pain.
“We’ve got this. We found it. You’re going to be OK,” Murdock calmly reassured him.
“I’ve been through enough now that I know talking someone through a traumatic situation is what provides them peace,” Murdock said after the exercise. “Talking is very critical, even for those you don’t think can hear you.”
Murdock said the training reinforced the need to carry medical and safety kits close by, everywhere, so staff have the tools they need in a true emergency.
Training built for utility work
Husband and wife duo Jenn and Chris Foreman originally developed their training business—Combat First Aid—with a focus on law enforcement. Jenn served as a paramedic for over 20 years, and Chris is a sergeant for Chelan County Sheriff’s Office.
“When thinking about Chelan PUD specifically, we were trying to come up with scenarios that would be the most likely situations they may find themselves in, especially those working on the line,” Jenn Foreman said.
Utility work often happens in remote areas, around heavy equipment, energized systems, and hazardous environments where medical help may not arrive quickly. Electricity can leave entry and exit wounds, which can be life-threatening if not treated within minutes.
“Most of us linemen are visual learners to begin with,” said Line Foreman Rudy Valdez. “It’s hands on, real world. This is something you’re going to remember.”
For Jenn Foreman, the hands-on approach is critical.
“I’m a hands-on learner,” she said. “I have to fumble through in training, I have to make mistakes and debrief, and then try again.”
The exercises test more than medical knowledge. Assessment and situational awareness are important aspects of utility industry safety culture, where workers are trained to identify hazards before safely taking action. During one scenario, trainees responded to a worker suffering a severe leg injury near equipment. Participants had to assess the scene, control the bleeding, communicate with each other, and direct emergency responders. The instructor stopped the scenario to praise a trainee for first moving a dangerous drill away from the victim before beginning treatment.
“The very first thing we need to do is make the scene safe,” Chris Foreman reminded the group.
“I just want to help”
Randall Phillips, a materials superintendent at Chelan PUD, brought Immediate Responder Training to Chelan PUD after taking the training seven years ago.
“When I walk into a situation that’s bad, I want to do something,” Phillips said. “That’s what set this whole thing in motion, I just want to help.”
In one powerful moment of that training, Phillips recalled listening to the recording of a police officer dying from a gunshot wound to the leg. On the audio, the officer’s voice slowly faded as he waited for help that came too late. For Phillips, that’s when skills training turned into a personal mission. He immediately recognized the need to teach these skills to anyone on the front lines of the utility industry, whether they’re on a powerline, behind the front counter, or inside a dam.
“I see this as a void nationwide,” Phillips said. “We’ve done a great job training CPR, AEDs, but the void is you have two to three minutes to save a life in a mass bleed situation, and nobody knows how to do it.”
More than 160 of about 800 Chelan PUD employees have taken the training, including lineworkers, wiremen, and other operations-focused personnel. Phillips heard reports of at least two lives saved as a result of this training. Both incidents occurred while Chelan PUD staff were off duty.
“This kind of training is what they call a force multiplier,” Phillips said. “We’re offering this training for Chelan PUD employees, but it’s also for the community. Our employees are ready to help, whether they’re on the job, on a trail, at home with their families, or out in the community.”
Create your own Immediate Responder Training program
On Aug. 13, Chelan PUD Safety Manager Gage Graika, Chelan PUD Mechanical Engineer Randall Phillips, and Combat First Aid Owner and Lead Instructor Jenn Foreman will present a free 75-minute webinar through Western Energy Institute. The webinar will teach participants how to build and implement their own Immediate Responder bleeding control program. The webinar will be held from 10-11:15 a.m. Pacific Time. More information and registration are available here.
View a video of the Chelan PUD training
Chelan PUD created a video of its 2025 Immediate Responder Training that includes coverage of the training and interviews with participants and instructors. View the video here.
