Hospitals across San Diego County took part in large-scale, emergency preparedness drills on Thursday designed to practice and improve staffers’ response to life-threatening events when disaster strikes.
The staff at UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest pulled out all the stops for their emergency drill. Their exercise simulated a mass casualty and mass fatality incident resulting from a large building collapse.
With mostly student volunteers acting as the “victims,” physicians and hospital staff practiced patient care and transportation, mobilization of resources and hospital command center operations for two-and-a-half hours in a staged area outside the Emergency Department at 200 West Arbor Dr.
The volunteers wore full make-up and posed as injured victims and concerned family members.
As the victims showed up, hospital staff members classified them based on their injuries, with emergency vehicles transporting patients to emergency areas and trauma bays.
The fake injuries included everything from severe burns to amputations.
The students acting as patients said the drill was a great first-hand experience.
UCSD Health System trauma surgeon and Director of Emergency Preparedness Jay Doucet M.D., told NBC 7 the exercise was an excellent way to practice and prepare for potential disasters.
“Disaster preparedness is something that we always have to be thinking about and to be good at it, we have to plan and drill,” said Doucet.
Doucet said the staff at UCSD Medical Center conducts these types of drills often, and takes them very seriously.
He recommends families across San Diego keep their own disaster preparedness kits at home in case of an emergency. He says websites such as ready.gov and redcross.org offer good emergency preparedness tips.
Photo Credit: Monica Garske