EIRMC hosts infectious disease drill
Emergency crews are quickly prepared when dealing with high-risk situations, and KIFI/KIDK went behind the scenes during an infectious disease drill.
The drill’s scenario: a family of three at the Idaho Falls Airport showed symptoms of the Ebola virus.
The mission: putting on protective gear, moving the patients, and isolating them in the intensive care unit.
EIRMC, the Idaho Falls Fire Department, Eastern Idaho Public Health District, and the Idaho Falls Airport all took part in the drill.
“This is a larger drill for us, a multi-agency type of drill, so these happen several times a year. But we are drilling internally very often,” said Nathan Miller EIRMC community relations specialist.
The four different agencies went through exercises to make sure safety measures are in place for a wide range of emergency situations.
“So today we’re just testing our response to that as well as the coordination between the different local agencies. We are constantly training and drilling to ensure that our patients are safe, that our staff is safe and that we’re able to handle any sort of emergency situation that comes up,” said Miller.
Crews directly involved with the patients had to be put in airtight bio-hazard suits, and certain areas of the hospital needed to be taped off.
A situation like this drill does not happen often, but these agencies are prepared in case deadly contagious diseases do come within our cities.
