2008 Disaster Exercise...

On December 10, 2008 Anderson County Emergency Medical Services conducted an annual Disaster Exercise in conjunction with the City of Oak Ridge Fire Department. This inservice event was held to familiarize staff members with the SMART triage system. At the same time, this proved to be an excellent opportunity for both departments to develop and improve interorganizational operations. Students from Hardin Valley High School health occupations program also attended the event and served as patients during the exercise. Several students had the opportunity to "shadow" EMS responders during the incident to gain a further understanding of EMS Operations. The incident was a simulated building collapse with multiple patients injured. Arriving EMS and Fire crews were charged with triaging multiple patients during the initial response. Command was established, sectors were assigned, and additional units were requested along with a simulated mutual aid response. Oak Ridge firefighters were responsible for extricating paitents from the collapsed structure with assistance from EMS crews. This served as a learning opportunity for many EMS staff members in that they were not initially familiar with the equipment. After triage was completed and treatment was initiated, simulated patient transport was also performed. The incident concluded and was viewed as a great success by all those involved. Many lessons were learned and both organizations became increasingly familiar with equipment and procedures utilized by each. Anderson County Emergency Medical Services would like to thank everyone who participated in the event. Special thanks goes to the students of Hardin Valley High School who went above and beyond to assist our organizations during this exercise.

Disaster Exercise Photo Gallery