The Highland County Emergency Management Agency/Local Emergency Planning Committee will hold a full scale exercise on Thursday morning, April 18, at the Highland County Fairgrounds.
“This exercise will provide local responders with an opportunity to assess capabilities, plans, policies and procedures in regards to a simulated emergency situation,” Highland County EMA Director Dave Bushelman said in a news release. “It will focus on decision-making, coordination and integration with other organizations during a simulated emergency situation. The expected outcome of the exercise is better first responder coordination, increased communication and support for emergency operations.”
Bushelman said that during the mock scenario there will be a routine landing at Highland District Hospital, two medical helicopters will collide causing shrapnel to impact a third helicopter and a nearby portable anhydrous ammonia nurse tank being transported by a farmer involved. In addition to the chemical release, the incident will simulate multiple injuries of helicopter occupants and of persons nearby. Responders will practice, triaging, treating and transporting the simulated patients.
The following agencies and organizations will be players in the exercise: elected officials, first responders including multiple local fire departments and law enforcement, county hazardous materials trained personnel including multiple local fire departments personnel, the Emergency Management Agency, South State Community College Nursing Program, Highland District Hospital, Adena Greenfield Medical Center, Highland Health Providers, CareFlight and Med Flight.
“During this full-scale exercise, emergency responders and medical helicopters will be actively involved in the simulated emergency scenario. These exercises are designed to test the readiness and coordination of various emergency response agencies, including law enforcement, fire departments, emergency medical services, and others,” Bushelman said. “This exercise underscores our ongoing commitment to the safety and well-being of Highland County residents. We appreciate your understanding and support as we conduct this vital training to better serve and protect our community.”
For more information on this exercise, contact Bushelman at Office: 937-393-5880 (office), 937-393-2655 (FAX), [email protected] or http://www.highlandcountyema.com.
“There will be helicopters and firetrucks in the area active that morning of the exercise there at the fairgrounds,” Bushelman said. “We have to do an exercise every year, and some of them are tabletop and some of them are just functional within the EOC [Emergency Operations Center], and then I have to do a full scale exercise every four years.”
Reach John Hackley at 937-402-2571.
