Apr 12, 2008
Redding
Pandemic Flu: Volunteers practice for a real emergency
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by Julie Weisberg
When Judy Malin found out the health care company she works for would be participating in an upcoming regional pandemic flu exercise, she knew she had to be involved.
And so the Deer Spring Road resident signed on to be a volunteer, spending several hours training and then serving as a public information officer during the drill, which took place at Bethel Health Care on Parklawn Drive in Bethel on Saturday.
“It sounded very, very interesting,” Ms. Malin said, walking the grounds as one of several public information officers who worked with and guided the media during Saturday’s drill. “We hope we never see something like this, but with the ease that people travel these days, it could actually happen.”
And she is not alone in her concern. Ms. Malin was among hundreds of volunteers, first responders, health care and emergency management professionals from more than 40 Connecticut municipalities — including Redding and other surrounding towns — that came together to organize, plan and carryout last week’s exercise.
The idea for holding a large-scale pan flu drill in the area was conceived by the Managed Emergency Mass Allocation Consortium (MEMA). The group is a regional grassroots organization made up of some 30 partners including several health care companies, hospitals, Western Connecticut State University, West Point Military Academy, American Red Cross, as well the Redding Health District and Visiting Nurse Association.
Redding resident Dr. Harvey Kramer, cardiologist, was one of several medical observers to take part in the drill. The cooperation among all parties involved in the drill was “extraordinary,” he said.
“Things have gone very well,” Dr. Kramer said Saturday morning, as he stood and kept a close eye on the mock activities in a triage tent.
Saturday’s exercise featured several tents strategically set up across the grounds of the Bethel Health Care facility, with dozens of volunteers posing as flu victims who were then evaluated and “treated” by first responders, doctors, nurses and others who also took part in the mock pandemic flu outbreak.
And anyone going in and out of the triage tents and walking the grounds, including members of the media covering the drill, were required to wear surgical masks, gowns and gloves — just as if it were a real emergency.
Most of the tents were set aside as triage and medical care units. One of the tents, however, also served as a central location where victims could go to get information about the emergency, as well as to find out how to care for themselves and their loved ones who were ill at home.
Representatives from the state Department of Emergency Management and the federal Department of Homeland Security were also involved in the event’s planning and on hand Saturday. And the state Department of Public Health’s Ottilie Lundgren Memorial Mobile Field Hospital was also used as part of the exercise.
“And they approached this not as if it is just a drill, but as though it was a real and true situation,” Ms. Malin said, adding that she was especially surprised to see several children taking part.
“I think that that is good,” she said of the younger volunteers who posed as pandemic flu victims. “It helps make them more aware of what to do in an emergency... and what to do if they get separated from their parents.”
According to Laura Vasile, the town of Bethel’s health director and the drill’s lead public information officer, last week’s Regional Pandemic Flu Triage Center Exercise was the first time the concept of “medical surge capacity” has actually been tested here in the United States.
Medical surge capacity is the ability of first responders to provide triage (the process of determining victims’ medical priority) and then immediate medical care during a large-scale public health and/or medical emergency, such as a pandemic flu outbreak.
“I really thought that everything I trained for happened right in front of me,” Ms. Vasile said of the drill.
The goal of the exercise, she said, was to “test” the region’s ability to properly provide medical treatment and support to people with pandemic flu who require medical care. The success of the surge is dependent upon the ability of community members and resident volunteers to plan and work together.
“This exercise was to do as good of a job as we could, knowing there would be problems and flaws,” Dr. Kramer said. “It gives us an opportunity to learn.”
Ms. Vasile said organizers learned several important points through holding the drill. And while there are processes and issues that do need to be more more efficient and improved, the basic groundwork needed to successfully respond to this type of emergency in the future has now been laid.
“It’s just a benefit for our region to know that that is now in place,” she said.
Because of last week’s large-scale exercise, Dr. Kramer said, the region will be better prepared to protect local residents during any possible future large-scale emergency.
“I can assure you, when the flu comes to town, we will be affected just like anyone else,” he said of Redding. “No community is immune.”
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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