CLEARLAKE >> On June 16 St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake’s Incident Response team, Lake County Fire Protection District (LCFPD) and volunteers from the Red Cross and Spring Valley Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) came together to perform a disaster preparedness drill on hospital grounds.
The purpose of this activity was to have multiple agencies test their coordinated response to a situation requiring patient isolation, decontamination, creation of an alternate care site, communications, and resource requests in order to address the possibility of a large-scale public health emergency wherein many people would need to receive medical care.
The scenario, called the “Unknown Contamination Incident” was carried out with help from nine local students, who played the role of students who had been sprayed with an unknown chemical compound. Students were taken to an alternative care site set up in the lower parking lot of the St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake campus, where first responders from EMS and LCFPD conducted the decontamination portion of the drill so the patients could then be triaged and treated. Emergency Preparedness Drill of this nature are not required by any state or federal agency.
“The drill went smoothly and, though post-event debriefing did identify areas to be improved upon, that was the whole point of the drill,” said Clearlake Fire Chief Willie Sapeta.
When asked for the kids’ perspectives, most of them said, “It was fun!”
