UH St. John Takes Part in Mass Disaster Training Drill

What would happen if a mass disaster like a commercial plane crash occurred in the area?

Assessing area abilities to respond to such a tragedy was the objective of the 2018 CLE Mass Casualty Exercise held on September 14.

UH St. John Medical Center took part in the scenario – sponsored by Cleveland Hopkins International Airport – that played out as if a 737-800 commercial aircraft with 158 souls on board on approach to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, lost all instrument readings in foggy conditions, landed short of the runway, and resulted in a crash with full engulfment of fire.

The objective was to assess the ability to establish and maintain multi-agency and multi-jurisdictional communications to support response to a mass casualty incident (MCI) throughout operational period.

UH St. John Emergency Dept. personnel gears up during a mass disaster drill held on Sept. 14. The drill focused on response ability based on a mock plane crash at Cleveland Hopkins Airport.

“This exercise tests UH St. John’s ability to respond to an incident where the hospital may receive a large amount of patients on a very short notice,” said Matt Sheehan, EMS Coordinator, UH St. John.

The exercise began with an alert of the incident. The hospital announced a “Code Yellow Disaster” and opened the Hospital Incident Command Center.

“Many personnel are recalled or placed on notice of the incident,” said Sheehan.

The goal of the exercise was to assess the ability of local medical facilities to provide trauma care during a medical surge response: Implement needed decontamination, treatment, and patient- tracking procedures for both transported and self – referred patients.

UH St. John received numerous “Mulaged” patients from the airport with various injuries from minor to critical. The activity intentionally and immediately stresses the Emergency and Admitting Departments.

Matt Sheehan, UH St. John EMS Coordinator, in action.

Doctors and nursing staff triaged patients as they arrived and determined which immediate interventions were needed from treat and release to surgery.

“The Admitting Department not only had to register the patient, they also have to place the patient by name or number in OHTRAC, which helps locating patients from the incident,” said Sheehan. “The patients that the hospital received played in the role until they were told the exercise was over.

“After the exercise we held a debriefing with many of personnel involved. Overall, everyone was positive with how the exercise went, but we can always find room for improvement.”

In addition to UH St. John, UH Bedford, UH Richmond, Southwest General, St. Vincent Charity and Metro Health Medical Center participated.