A car collides with a tanker and two buses full of students become involved in the accident causing dozens of injuries and deaths.
It sounds like something out of a movie, yet it was the scenario for the Tri-County Full Scale Emergency Preparedness drill held Thursday at Marion General Hospital.
Students from local schools portrayed victims and each was given a placard to tell first responders the extent of their injuries. At 9 a.m., local fire departments were dispatched to the mock scene, set up behind the hospital. The scene was designed to recreate the disaster at the intersection of U.S. 98 and Mississippi 13 South.
Firefighters from the Columbia Fire Department, Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department and representatives from other county departments arrived and began to stabilize the scene. As Columbia Police Department officers and Marion County Sheriff’s deputies worked the scene. AAA Ambulance Service personnel worked with hospital staff to identify the severity of wounds and the emergency room was flooded with mock casualties.
Other victims were decontaminated by members of the various fire departments and Coroner Norma Williamson was on the scene to deal with the deaths.
The drill involved officials from Marion, Jefferson Davis and Walthall counties along with personnel from the three hospitals and Forrest General Hospital Officials.
“We’re tried to get all of the counties to participate and make it a multi-facility, multi-jurisdictional exercise,” Alania Cedillo, interim administrator at MGH, said earlier this month. “It is a requirement for the conditions of participation with CMS, the group that accredits the hospital.”
CMS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is a part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
“We have to be prepared to meet their requirements,” Cedillo said. “This is the first community-wide full scale drill. It is now a requirement annually.”
Each entity documented its activities on a critique form and is also responsible for evaluation and improvements for identified opportunities. The drill included more than a dozen agencies in the three counties as well as several facilities.
Several planning sessions were held and a debriefing was held for those involved on Friday.
Pictured Above: Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department and Columbia Fire Department firefighters work the scene of the mock crash Thursday morning. | Photo by Mark Rogers
