Practice makes perfect when it comes to an emergency
Published on Thu, Jun 4, 2009Read More Local News
On June 5, the City of Arlington will be rocked by an earthquake, creating moderate to heavy damage citywide. Cascade Hospital will receive and treat injured victims, a local school will sustain heavy damage with several injured students, and city businesses will determine if they need help from emergency personnel.
The scene described isn't a prophecy. It's all part of a citywide exercise scheduled for Friday, June 5, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the past two years' preparedness planning. The events are also part of a larger regional exercise conducted by the Department of Health for all hospitals in Snohomish, Skagit, Island, Whatcom and San Juan counties.
"What really brings this together is the fact that the three main entities in the city are working together," said Mayor Margaret Larson. "We have been coordinating preparedness and planning, and now we get a chance to test out some of our abilities in regards to a moderate earthquake."
"The hospital handles multiple patients at a time on a daily basis, but adding in a significant number from a local school will really tax our system," said Clark Jones, Cascade Hospital CEO. "This will be great practice for the staff and give us a better picture of what it will look when we have a large number of injured. We will also be testing communications between the city, school and other regional hospitals, which will give us a good indication as to where our holes may be and how we can fix them."
For a local school, students will become injured due to a secondary cause--something other than the earthquake.
Superintendent Kristine McDuffy said, "Our students are excited about participating in the citywide exercise and working with the hospital. It will also give our school emergency team a chance to practice their new skills and communication capabilities."
The city is asking local businesses to play along on Friday morning as well.
"Businesses can contact our office for 'signs of damage'," said Fire Chief Jim Rankin. "Signs will be put up on the outside of businesses around town about 9 a.m. Once the earthquake occurs, city workers will go to their disaster rally areas to pair up and conduct windshield surveys. City workers will look for and document the damages they see from the signs and report information back to their department heads in the emergency operations center, where it will be mapped to allow for emergency services to be prioritized."
"This is the hardest thing for us to do as emergency and city workers," explained Ed Erlandson of the Arlington Police Department. "We must conduct a citywide damage assessment before actually assisting residents so that we can do the most good for the most people. That means prioritizing, and we cannot do that effectively if we continually stop to assist the first person we come to. That is why we are asking residents to prepare themselves and their families to be on their own for the first hours after a disaster."
Information on emergency preparedness is available from Chris Badger, Arlington's emergency services coordinator, by e-mailing cbadger@ci.arlington.wa.us.
The scene described isn't a prophecy. It's all part of a citywide exercise scheduled for Friday, June 5, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the past two years' preparedness planning. The events are also part of a larger regional exercise conducted by the Department of Health for all hospitals in Snohomish, Skagit, Island, Whatcom and San Juan counties.
"What really brings this together is the fact that the three main entities in the city are working together," said Mayor Margaret Larson. "We have been coordinating preparedness and planning, and now we get a chance to test out some of our abilities in regards to a moderate earthquake."
"The hospital handles multiple patients at a time on a daily basis, but adding in a significant number from a local school will really tax our system," said Clark Jones, Cascade Hospital CEO. "This will be great practice for the staff and give us a better picture of what it will look when we have a large number of injured. We will also be testing communications between the city, school and other regional hospitals, which will give us a good indication as to where our holes may be and how we can fix them."
For a local school, students will become injured due to a secondary cause--something other than the earthquake.
Superintendent Kristine McDuffy said, "Our students are excited about participating in the citywide exercise and working with the hospital. It will also give our school emergency team a chance to practice their new skills and communication capabilities."
The city is asking local businesses to play along on Friday morning as well.
"Businesses can contact our office for 'signs of damage'," said Fire Chief Jim Rankin. "Signs will be put up on the outside of businesses around town about 9 a.m. Once the earthquake occurs, city workers will go to their disaster rally areas to pair up and conduct windshield surveys. City workers will look for and document the damages they see from the signs and report information back to their department heads in the emergency operations center, where it will be mapped to allow for emergency services to be prioritized."
"This is the hardest thing for us to do as emergency and city workers," explained Ed Erlandson of the Arlington Police Department. "We must conduct a citywide damage assessment before actually assisting residents so that we can do the most good for the most people. That means prioritizing, and we cannot do that effectively if we continually stop to assist the first person we come to. That is why we are asking residents to prepare themselves and their families to be on their own for the first hours after a disaster."
Information on emergency preparedness is available from Chris Badger, Arlington's emergency services coordinator, by e-mailing cbadger@ci.arlington.wa.us.
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