NEWPORT – Don’t freak out, it’s just a drill.
More than a dozen first responders and emergency managers from Lincoln County and around Oregon will descend on the Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital campus Friday and Saturday to conduct a full-scale mass casualty disaster response exercise.
More than 100 military members, medical personnel, student nurses, and civilians will participate in the training event, which is closed to the public.
The drill begins Friday afternoon with lecture-based training at the Samaritan Center for Health Education. Early Saturday, volunteers who will pretend to be victims will receive special effect makeup depicting injuries. The drill will extend into clinical areas of the hospital — where patients are not seen on weekends – so that emergency department staff can take turns training on the triage process, skills, patient flows and tracking.
Local participants include eight agencies and other first responders. And there are six groups from elsewhere in Oregon.
“This full-scale exercise simulates a catastrophic Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake and tsunami. It focuses on the critical window when coastal communities are isolated, overwhelmed, and operating with severely limited infrastructure,” said Dr. Eric Gebbie, director of emergency operations for the Oregon Health Authority.
The OHA is covering the $25,000 cost of the two-day exercise.
