Emergency responders test skills in simulation
Southeastern Idaho emergency personnel put their disaster skills to the test Saturday. In a simulation, they had to apply information they learned at this year’s Regional Readiness Rendezvous/Spring Things conference.
Local hospitals that are part of Idaho public health district 6 were tasked to deal with overwhelming patient loads caused by two different bus crashes on I-15. As each facility neared patient bed capacity, they had to use emergency procedures to transfer patients within the region without compromising anyone’s care.
The point of the functional exercise was to make sure all participants knew their role, how their specific facility works and how to effectively communicate with other facilities in the region.
Nick Scarborough, all-hazards planner for Southeastern Idaho Public Health, designed the exercise. He said proper communication is a learned skill.
“Relationships that you establish with your fellow responders are really going to be put to the test in an emergency,” he said. “You just don’t have the time to establish them when you’re trying to save lives. They have to be there beforehand.”
Participants used cellphones, ham radios and an online crisis management system to communicate with each other during the exercise. Scarborough also designed a patient tracking sheet to track patients in the exercise.
As time passed, obstacles were introduced to the facilities, including overloaded phone lines and needing more nurses.
Luis Perez at Power County Hospital said after this exercise he’s confident in handling these situations.
“We’ve got several highways and summertime’s coming, we get a lot of tourists,” he said. “We have to be ready, we have to be prepared.”
District 6 includes eight counties: Bannock, Power, Caribou, Franklin, Bear Lake, Oneida, Bingham and Butte. All those who participated in the exercise completed its objectives.
