First responders in the Rio Grande Valley are checking to see how they can improve their response time and communication during mass casualty events.

A Wednesday mass casualty simulation was held in San Benito for first responders to take part in.

During the simulation, dozens of people acted like they were hurt after a fake bus crash.

Some of those actors had only scrapes and bruises, but others were hurt more in the pretend crash.

As the executive director for the Trauma Regional Advisory Council in the Valley, Nathan Ramon said the practice run was more than just improving disaster readiness. It was also a test for new methods for Valley first responders.

One of them included a colored wristband system that Ramon said helps first responders communicate a patient's injury to the hospitals. It can also help first responders when they're arriving on scene.

Rene Perez with the South Texas Emergency Care Foundation said his EMS staff also tested an app that gets patient information to hospitals quicker using a barcode.

“We identified some issues that we're seeing, but other than that everyone was accounted for and transported to the hospital so we were able to get everybody where they needed to be,” Perez said.

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