From
In 1999, Act 227 created Terrorism TaskForce Regions in Pennsylvania. Region 5 is the South Central Mountains Terrorism TaskForce and consists of counties from Blair, Bedford, Centre, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Mifflin, and Snyder. PA Region 5 represents the central Pennsylvania Hospitals of Altoona Regional Health System, Fulton County Medical Center, Healthsouth Rehab, James E. VanZandt Medical Center, JC Blair Memorial, Lewistown, Mount Nittany Medical Center, Nason, Tyrone, and UPMC Bedford Memorial.
A Healthcare Sub Committee for Region 5 was formally created to develop, implement and maintain a comprehensive emergency operations plan for managing the human health consequences of a natural disaster or terrorist incident resulting in mass casualties.
Over the past several years, hospitals have upgraded facilities and conducted trainings related to an incident involving Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) – chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE). The hospitals have developed and accepted the PEMA Regional Hospital Emergency Management Plan designed to establish guidelines for response and to assist hospitals in determining their best course of action when under duress and will integrate hospital activities into a broader response including public safety, public health, emergency medical services and emergency management agencies.
As part of the PA Region 5 Plan, Tyrone Hospital will participate in an exercise drill, scheduled for September 20. The drill will be a full-scale exercise involving various police, fire, emergency medical services, hazardous materials teams, Red Cross and healthcare agencies. The exercise drill is designed for each hospital to determine its individual readiness, response plans, and develop goals and objectives for future organizational needs. The drill will simulate a mass casualty event which will allow each hospital to test its ability to handle a surge of patients into the hospital, how well they take in contaminated patients and additional hospital specific objectives of disaster preparedness.
The functional exercise will simulate the first 6 to 8 hours of the hospital’s response effort. The objective is to establish a learning environment that will familiarize participants with needed protocols, it is a no-fault exercise, not an inspection or test.
“One goal for the drill is to enable us to see how we are able to work together as a unit,” said Craig Hattler, Director of Environmental Services and Safety at Tyrone Hospital. “We want to find out what we’re doing well, and perhaps more important, identify opportunities for improvement.”
Information and data will be collected by each participating hospital and used collectively by the PA Region 5 South Central Mountains Terrorism Task Force to identify any procedural or coordination gaps or issues.
