The Mississippi Department of Health (MDH), Hattiesburg Fire Department (HFD), Forrest General Hospital (FGH), William Carey University (WCU), The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) and multiple ambulance agencies joined forces on last Friday to hold a mass casualty drill for training in the event of a disaster.
Students from WCU and USM participated in the drill not only as patients, but also as spectators and family members of the patients. After fake blood and injuries were attached to the students, each patient was given a red card on a lanyard to detail information about their injuries and condition.
The hospital’s basement was arranged to mimic a disaster area complete with obstacles and victims strewn throughout. Once the victims were rescued, they were then transported to a dry decontamination tent where firefighters completed the decontamination process before triaging [sorting patients according to the severity of their injuries] and loading the patients into the waiting ambulances. The patients were then transported to the hospital’s emergency department for another decontamination process before being treated.
“This gives our guys a little bit of experience,” said Hattiesburg Fire Chief Chris Carr. “We were able to see some new equipment that the state has available as well as working with the partners [partnering agencies] and working out some of the kinks we may have if something really were to happen.”
Training operations like these ensure that hospital staff and first responders are ready in the event of an actual mass casualty event, even down to handling situations with onlookers, family and media.
