“On the morning of 12/16/2022 a mild earthquake took place in the area. Shortly following, Memorial Hospital started receiving calls of incoming injuries.” Don’t worry, this was only a drill. We repeat, this was only a drill.
Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Response Team drills annually to assess the Command Structure process and effectiveness of communication between the command center, triage, and emergency room. This allows all employees to practice their emergency response roles. The entire scenario lasted about an hour and a half.
During the drill and in a real emergency, employees are assigned specific tasks to aid in triage and tracking of patients, and communication throughout the hospital and the command center. Many drills take on the assumption that regular forms of communication may not be available (i.e. phone lines, internet, and even power outages). The employees learn how to adapt their communication and processes while continuing to provide care to the increase of patients arriving at their facility.
One mannequin was reported as a casualty due to his injuries. The others were treated for their wounds and survived. Memorial has several new employees, “so this was a learning experience for a lot of staff and a review for many,” said Georgia Stipe, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator at Memorial. We are happy to report that all staff responded quickly to the incident and played out their roles with efficiency.