Ed Seal stands watch over a medical team, calling out
instructions as they frantically scrub off a dummy covered in mock
decontaminants.
He later turns off the lights and uses a blacklight to scan the
body. Seal commends the team on a job well done, but points out a
few missed spots on the dummy’s back. The medical team listens
intently, making sure they soak up all of the information and
training necessary should the unimaginable ever happen.
The drill at Sky Ridge Medical Center June 28 was meant to
re-create an all-purpose scenario: a chemical/hazardous material
spill and terrorist attack with mass casualties. The entire
emergency department — nurses, medical technicians, security
officers — undergoes annual training. Led by Seal, the Douglas
County Sheriff’s Office’s emergency management coordinator, all 60
staff members prepare for the worst.
Garrett Chism, the emergency medical services and trauma manager
at Sky Ridge Medical Center, also instructed a small team of
nurses, physicians and treatment managers on the finer points of
quickly inflating a portable decontamination tent and processing
several patients at a time. He covered operational logistics, which
are critical in frenzied emergency situations. The medical workers
wore vests to help other staff identify them, as they must do in
emergencies. They coordinated responsibilities in the makeshift
triage area, and practiced putting and taking down the inflatable
decontamination tent.
Linda Watson, director of marketing and public affairs for Sky
Ridge, said the medical center takes precautions because
large-scale emergencies, including plane crashes and terrorist
attacks, can happen at any time.
She pointed to a scare at the Lincoln Light Rail station shortly
before the Democratic National Convention in Denver in which
patients who were exposed to a mysterious powder were transported
to Sky Ridge’s emergency department. The powder was later found to
be harmless, but the incident underscored the need for sufficient
preparedness and strict guidelines for dealing with
catastrophes.
