FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 14, 2009
Contact: Bill Seiler bseiler@umm.edu
Ellen Beth Levitt eblevitt@umm.edu 410-328-8919

MULTI-AGENCY DISASTER DRILL TESTS RESPONSE TO SIMULATED HOSPITAL EVACUATION

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Date of Event:	Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009
Time:	9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where:	University of Maryland Medical Center 22 S. Greene Street Baltimore, MD 21201

The University of Maryland Medical Center will lead a Baltimore-wide preparedness exercise, Free State Response 2009, that includes the simulated evacuation of a hospital and the transfer of mock patients to other facilities. Exercise participants include the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center and a dozen other Baltimore-area hospitals, the Baltimore City Fire and Police Departments, the Baltimore City Community Emergency Response Team, MIEMSS (Maryland Institute of Emergency Medical Services Systems), the American Red Cross, the Baltimore Sector of the United States Coast Guard, the University of Maryland, Baltimore and others.

For its part in the drill, the University of Maryland Medical Center will practice evacuating mock patients from the hospital after a simulated electrical fire cuts off power to the hospital’s six buildings. The mock patients will be evacuated down hallways and stairwells and eventually to an alternate care site on a parking lot at Lombard and Greene Streets, across from the Medical Center, where tents will protect the mock patients from the elements. Ambulances, buses and other vehicles will then transport the mock patients to participating hospitals.

Free State Response 2009 will enable the hospitals and public health and safety agencies to practice how to handle the transport and influx of patients should a hospital evacuation become necessary. The Baltimore City Fire Department will coordinate the evacuation, and MIEMSS will coordinate the transport of the mock patients to other hospitals.

Hospitals and governmental agencies develop and participate in exercises such as this to practice their emergency preparedness capabilities, evaluate their plans and look for opportunities to improve their readiness.

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This page was last updated on: November 30, 2010.